Wearing Contact Lenses in The Summer: 9 Tips From Professionals
Who doesn’t love summer?? From outdoor adventures to sunshine and beach moments.
While summer allows for leisure activities and opportunities, some challenges remain, especially if you wear contact lenses. Wearing contacts in the summer requires extra carefulness and attention.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss tips on wearing contact lenses in the summer and ensuring your eyes are comfortable and vision clear.
Understanding the Summer Challenge for Contact Lens Wearers
While several outdoor activities and opportunities exist in the summer, there are also some challenges. These challenges demand extra carefulness, especially if you’re a contact lens wearer.
The summer comes with a high exposure to UV rays. If you wear contacts, these rays are harmful and can cause damage. Prolonged exposure can lead to irritation, discomfort, and sometimes corneal damage. Your solution to the sun’s harmful UV rays is wearing sunglasses or contacts with built-in UV protection.
The dryness of the season is a problem if you wear contact lenses. While there is a fluctuation in heat and humidity, it causes dry eye symptoms. You will experience blurred vision alongside other symptoms, and your best remedy is an eye drop.
What is a summer without outdoor activities like swimming? While swimming is fun, it is a challenge for contact lens wearers. Other activities like hiking and playing sports can also be a challenge. Remember, exposure to water, dust, and pollen can damage your lenses.
Tip 1: Stay Hydrated to Maintain Lens Comfort
Ensure you are well hydrated, especially during the summer when heat and humidity increase dry eyes. Hydration is not just for your overall health, but also to keep you comfortable and give clear vision while wearing contact lenses.
When you’re dehydrated, it affects your tear production. Those tears lubricate your eyes and ensure you’re comfortable throughout the day.
Tip 2: Use Sunglasses with UV Protection
Several people ask if you can wear sunglasses with contact lenses, and the answer is yes, you can. Wearing sunglasses helps shield your eyes from bright sunlight. Sunglasses also serve as eye protection against flying debris and wind. Direct sunlight can penetrate deep into your eyes which is one crucial reason you need to invest in quality glasses and ensure they have a durable frame.
Studies show that polarized lenses help with eye strain caused by glare. When you wear sunglasses, it’s not just about what happens immediately. These quality sunglasses protect your eyes and skin from UV light, thereby preventing the risk of skin cancer.
There are several benefits attached to wearing contact lenses with sunglasses. When you wear contacts with sunglasses, especially the ones with tinted lenses, the HEV light will reflect, ensuring there’s no issue or disturbance to your eyesight. If you’re glare-sensitive, you’ll experience frequent headaches and eye strain, especially if you work with bright light and computer screens. Your contacts with sunglasses can reduce glare by allowing just enough ambient light in your vision.
Tip 3: Avoid Swimming with Contact Lenses
By all means, avoid entering into swimming pools, lakes, ponds, or streams with your contact lenses. When you wear contacts in water bodies, you risk eye damage alongside other harmful effects.
Tip 4: Opt for Daily Disposable Lenses
Daily disposable contact lenses are your best option for reusable lenses. Most times, you don’t clean your lenses properly at the end of a long day. However, using daily lenses removes the need to clean knowing that the trash is where they belong at the end of the day.
Tip 5: Keep Your Lenses Clean
Factors like heat and dust can enhance dry eye discomfort during the summer. This is why you must always have clean lenses to reduce the risk of infections. Filtered contact lenses solutions are a must-have for providing additional comfort and protection. This solution is designed to remove impurities and maintain your lens hydration.
Tip 6: Limit Exposure to Air Conditioning
Wearing your contacts and staying under air conditioning can lead to dry eyes, nose, and skin. It can also lead to cloudy lenses. It is best to remove your contact lenses when under air conditions.
Tip 7: Be Cautious with Sunscreen
While protecting your eyes from potentially harmful radiation during the summer is a priority, you must use caution. Be mindful of the skin areas around your eyes when applying sunscreen. Some ingredients in the sunscreen can come in contact with your lenses. Such contact leads to irritation, discomfort, and blurred vision.
Tip 8: Follow a Regular Replacement Schedule
A regular replacement schedule is one of the keys to good eye health during the summer (sunlight). Extended wear of your lenses can lead to eye injuries and damage.
Tip 9: Consult Your Eye Care Professional Regularly
Visiting your eye care professional removes you from the risk of ill eye health, like UV damage. Your eye care professional can also recommend the right sunglasses for UV radiation protection. Their duty also extends to giving guidance on wearing glasses or contacts safely in the sun and water bodies. Such recommendations reduce your risk of UV rays exposure and promote long-term eye health.
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Conclusion
One goal all contact lens wearers must have during summer is eye protection. During such periods, the sun’s ultraviolet rays are high and demand carefulness. It is a period to invest in quality sunglasses to protect your eyes against the sun and its high-energy visible light. Taking such action protects you against any retinal cell damage and macular degeneration.
You can also look into sunglasses with special lenses for filtering UV radiation while giving clear vision. Always go for sunglasses over regular glasses in the summer.
Don’t joke with your check-ups to monitor your eye health regarding sun, water, and environmental exposure alongside your contact lens wear. Following the tips above will ensure you enjoy clear vision during summer and reduce the risk of damage and harmful UV rays.