Your Winter Eye Health

Help your eyes out this Winter with our guide to winter eye health

Winter is well and truly here and with a different season comes different problems espeically for your eyes. Winter weather can cause your eyes problems both inside your home and out. Here are some different ways to help your eyes out this winter:

Winter Sun

Many people tend to connect sunglasses and eyewear during their holidays and hobbies but forget about them the rest of the time. If its sunny, you need to wear sunglasses. You don’t suddenly become immune to UV just because the sun is shining on a cold winters day in Britain and not on a hot day in the Bahamas. Sunlight can cause damage to the retina and the lens of the eye no matter how warm it is. If the suns shining think sunglasses. 

BEWARE SNOW AND ICE

Snow and Ice both reflect the Suns UV rays so they can reach your eyes from below as well as above. This is obviously extremely important when it comes to any alpine sports such as skiing, snowboarding, mountaineering etc. 

Driving in Winter

The main problem with driving in winter is the long winter nights. With it getting dark so early during winter it means more people are driving in the dark so its easy to see why more accidents happen during this season. 

There are ways you can help your eyes out:

• If you are due for an eye test, go! - ensure that you have the best possible vision
• Be aware that your vision may be worse when driving in the dark than in the daylight - your pupils dilate in the dark which decreases your depth of vision so try slightly reducing your speed and concentrate more.
• During the day glare from off the roads icy surface can cause difficulties for drivers so keep your windscreen clean both inside and out - also keeping a pair of sunglasses in the car. 

Dry Eyes

Dry eyes (especially if you are already a suffer) can be both caused and exacerbated by central heating. This can be treated by: 

• Lower the room temperate - when possible. 
• Blink more - dry eyes can get worse when reading/ using a computer/ TV. This is because you blink less when we are doing anything that needs lots of visual attention. 
• Try to get moisture into the air in your home or at work - You can use humidifiers, opening windows for a few minutes on cold days or simply putting small containers of water on your heaters (refilling when all the water has evaporated).
• Use Dry Eye Drops: Hycosan £8.99, Hycosan Extra £9.99 or Hycosan Plus £10.99

For more information on dry eyes click here

Time Spent indoors

We all tend to spend a lot more time indoors during winter and of that our time is usually spent watching TV or using the computer. But we need to remember the 20:20:20. This is basically every 20 minutes take a 20 second break and focus your eyes on something over 20 ft away.

Our article on computer eye health has more information. 

Winter Lighting

With low level of light during winter its important that during close tasks and reading you use extra light thats as close as possible to your task/book. 

Watery eyes 

That winter wind and the general coldness can cause watery eyes. Wearing eyewear can provide protection against the wind, even if you don’t usually wear them outdoors.