How Does The Sun Affect Your Eye Health?

You should put on sunscreen whenever you step out in the sun. Maybe even cover up to avoid the harsh sun rays. Also, cover your eyes, the most vulnerable part from the harm of the sun. Whether you have perfect vision or wear glasses, the harsh sunlight falls equally on everyone and can harm anyone.

How can sunlight affect your eyes?

Whenever you step out in the sun, you instinctively shield your eyes from the hot sun. The bright sunlight hurts your eyes, make your eyes watery and in the worst-case scenario can make you blind. UV rays can damage your eyesight. UV rays do not affect in a short time. Its effect starts appearing after a long period of exposure.

If you have lived all your life in mountainous regions and rarely used sunglasses to shield your eyes, you have an increased risk of getting eye disease because of UV light. You are more prone to get eye cancer or skin cancer from UV rays. Long time exposure to UV rays can also lead to cataracts, AMD and other eye diseases.

Is seeing the sun directly good for the eyes? No, if you directly look into the sun, your eyes will hurt. It’s difficult to look in the direction of the sun. Also, sunlight emits UV rays. Looking straight into UV rays can damage your retina. It’s also advised not to look directly into the sun during an eclipse. You will need special anti-UV sunglasses to block UV rays emitted during the eclipse.

Damages from Sun exposure and UV rays

1. Ageing — You age faster. Or the symptoms of ageing are escalated because of UV exposure. You get wrinkles fast, the muscles around your eyes loosen and your eyesight weakens as a result.
2. Corneal sunburn — Just like sunburn on the skin, your cornea can get affected by long exposure to sunlight. Corneal sunburn is also known as photokeratitis, an inflammation of the cornea from UV rays.
3. Cataracts — Exposure to UV rays can accelerate the formation of cataracts. By wearing proper eyewear, you can lower your chances of getting cataracts.
4. Scleral growth — Because of exposure to sunlight and UV rays can cause the growth of fleshy tissue over the sclera. If these things spread over to the iris and can block your vision.
5. Macular degeneration — Macula starts degenerating after ageing. Exposure to UV rays accelerates this damage.

What are the symptoms of sun damage to the eyes?

When your eyes are damaged by the sun, you will get these symptoms -

1. Pain or redness in the eyes
2. Teary eyes
3. Blurry vision
4. Swelling of eyes
5. Sensitivity to light
6. Eyelid twitching
7. Gritty sensation in eyes
8. Temporary vision loss
9. Headaches

When you experience these symptoms, you can cool off your eyes with eye drops. If the symptoms are too much worse, you should go to a doctor. The symptoms usually stay from 6 to 24 hours. If your symptoms do not go away, you should call for a doctor.

How to protect your eyes from the sun without sunglasses?

You should wear sunglasses with an anti-UV layer to protect your eyes. However, if you do not like wearing sunglasses, you can put on scarves, hats and other things to block sun rays. You can also use an umbrella when you step out in the sun.

Scarves, hats or umbrellas are cumbersome to carry when you are busy. An anti-UV sunglasses are a better and convenient option.

Many believe that any dark-tinted sunglasses can block the sunlight. Dark sunglasses block light but not as much you think. Also, these glasses hinder your vision. Polarised sunglasses block direct lights and allow only vertical light to enter your vision. You have clear comfortable vision even in the bright sunlight. With an additional layer of UV 400, your sunglasses can block UVA and UVB rays effectively. Wearing these glasses will protect your eyes.

If you already wear glasses, you can put on clip-on tints on your glasses to protect your vision. Another option for you is to use transition glasses. These glasses have photochromic dyes on the lenses. They activate in the presence of sunlight or any bright light and turn dark. In absence of light or moderate light, the lenses transition back to clear glasses frames. These lenses effectively block bright lights and also harmful UV rays.

Is it possible to reverse the damage caused by sunlight and UV rays?

You can alleviate the side effects of UV rays damage or sunlight damage. Wearing proper eyewear will protect your eyesight and also reduce the risk of getting any eye diseases. You can use eye drops to relieve eye pain, do eye exercise and healthy food to keep your eyes healthy. Other than that, only by wearing proper eyewear can you protect your eyesight.