How to Look After Your Eyes this Winter 

Harrold Opticians • December 31, 2019

The temperature outside is swiftly dropping which means winter is nearly here. The cold weather can have a detrimental effect on your eyes. During the winter months, the number of people suffering from conditions such as dry eye rises drastically. This is because the drop in temperature outdoors makes the air become colder and drier. With the reduction of moisture in the air, the surface of the eye loses moisture due to evaporation. As a result, the eye becomes dry and does not produce sufficient tears to keep the eye moist. Dry eye can cause sensitivity to light, a sting and burning sensation in and around the eyes, difficulty driving at night-time and blurred vision.

There are various things you can do to help prevent getting dry eye this winter. Here are our top tips!

1. Use Sunglasses – Many people believe that they don’t need to wear sunglasses during the winter due to the colder weather. However, it is still important to wear your sunglasses during the winter months in order to protect your eyes. The UV radiation can damage and dry out your eyes. During the winter months, the UV light can reflect off snowy or icy surfaces, without wearing sunglasses your eyes are at risk.

2. Carry Eye Drops – Your eyes can begin to dry out very quickly once you leave the house. This leaves you at risk of developing dry eye. It is important to keep your eyes moist. A great way to do this is to carry eye drops with you, a few drops into your eye will help keep it moist and stop your eye from drying out.

3. Avoid Standing in Front of Direct Heat for too Long – It might be tempting to stand in front of a heat source like an electric heater or fire after coming in from the cold, however, this can also dry your eyes out. When you are in cold weather, your eyes will develop a tear film in order to protect your eyes from losing moisture, if you then stand in front of direct heat the tear film can evaporate.

4. Take a Break From Digital Devices – Whilst you should always exercise caution with using digital devices such as computers, phones and televisions throughout the year, during the winter months it is especially important. Looking at the screen can cause your eyes to dry out. Try to exercise the 20:20:20 rule – every 20 minutes, look 20 feet away, for 20 seconds. Also, make sure to blink a lot whilst looking at the screen in order to stimulate your eyes to produce tears.

5. Take Care Whilst Driving At Night – During the winter months driving at night can become very difficult, the sun goes down sooner making the roads much darker. This means that people tend to use their headlights more often which can cause glare for many people who wear glasses. Using EnRoute contact lenses can significantly help. These specially designed lenses offer clear, unimpaired vision with a significant reduction from glare and reflections.

If you would like to find out more about how EnRoute contact lenses can help protect your eyes this winter, follow the link - http://d36.co/13JQS

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