Eyellergies

Have you found yourself stopping to smell the roses but unable to see the beautiful flowers?  If so, you are not alone.  Twenty percent of Americans are currently suffering from spring eye allergies.   We can thank the lovely mild winter for our misfortune, as the lack of cold air needed to kill off last season’s pollen, dust and mold spores ceased to exist.  As a result, the warm temperatures rushed in an early spring allergy season that is not only ahead of schedule but is predicted to be the worst allergy season in ten years!

I am sure some of you are pretty excited about the arrival of spring and all the beauty and life that comes with it.  However, spring equals flowers; flowers equal pollen; and pollen equals itchy, teary, gritty, red (often puffy) eyes.  Add this discomfort on top of wearing contact lenses and life can become pretty unbearable.

 Fact:  One in ten contact wearers will stop wearing their lenses due to allergies. 

Luckily, there are many easy and simple things you can do to protect your eyes without having to stay inside.  Follow the advice of the Optometrists at Cohen’s Fashion Optical and start enjoying the sights of spring!

1.  Avoid rubbing your eyes!

When you rub your eyes, your body releases extra histamine, prolonging your reaction and increasing discomfort.

2.  Apply cold compresses to the eye to reduce swelling and itching.

3.  Check your local pollen count and stay indoors when allergen levels are high.

4.  Avoid outdoor activity in the morning when pollen counts are highest.

5.  Keep your windows closed and use air conditioners with clean filters.

6.  Use an air purifier to help remove pollens from the air.

7.  Use artificial tears/eye drops to flush out and wash away allergens.

8.  Contact lens wearers should use daily disposable contact lenses.

A clean, fresh lens every day will soothe the eye and will prevent the accumulation of allergen build-up in the lens.

9.  Wear wraparound sunglasses to help shield the eyes from allergens.

10.  Even if you do not wear glasses or contacts, see an Optometrist!

Winter Weather Eye Protection

As the thermometer continues to drop, we take precaution to make sure our body is outfitted with all the necessary winter accessories and gear: wool socks, check! boots, check! gloves, check! scarf, check! hat, check! down jacket, check!

Anything missing from that list? Yup. Sunglasses!

While many of us are ensuring not an inch of bare skin is exposed to the harsh conditions winter can bring, we unfortunately tend to forget about protecting our eyes. Individuals typically don’t associate winter with a need for sunglasses, but with cold temperatures and snow there also comes hazardous conditions for your eyes.

Excessive exposure to the sun’s powerful ultraviolet rays without proper eye protection can put you at risk for a painful condition known as photokeratitis, which is akin to sunburn of the cornea and conjunctiva. The risk for photokeratitis is elevated in the winter months when fresh snow has the potential to reflect 80% of UV radiation. In comparison, a dry beach will reflect roughly 15% of UV rays.
In addition to photokeratitis, overexposure to UV rays has been found to cause cataracts and macular degeneration, two of the most common eye health issues experienced by older adults. Fortunately, these conditions can be avoided with proper eyewear and limited exposure to excessive UV rays.

Not only will sunglasses offer protection from the powerful winter sun, but also from the cold, dry air that can irritate eyes, especially for those that wear contact lenses. The bitter winter weather has the potential to dry eyes, making them itchy and irritated. While eye drops can help to alleviate dry eyes, sunglasses will help to eliminate the threat.

If you find yourself spending time outdoors this winter, make sure to put on a pair of sunglasses and keep your eyes protected!

Questions to Consider Before Choosing Contacts

While contact lenses may not have the same ability to make a bold statement like a pair of designer frames can, they do offer several functional advantages over glasses. Whether it’s a choice of comfort, convenience, or just simply personal preference, more and more people are scheduling eye exams and ordering contact lenses each day. If you are thinking about switching to contacts, here are three questions to consider before visiting your eye doctor.

1.)    How Often Will You Be Wearing Contacts?
One of the very first questions you should ask yourself is how often do you plan to wear your contacts. It’s important to determine the frequency of your contact usage, as it will help determine which type of contacts you choose, either hard (rigid gas permeable) or soft.

Will you only wear your contacts every now and then, or will you be wearing contacts each and every day? If you are the latter, hard contacts may make the most sense. Although they take some time to adjust to, with regular every day usage, hard contacts will become more comfortable. However, if you are looking for flexibility and plan on switching back and forth between contacts and glasses, soft contacts may be the best option as they require little time to adjust to.

2.)    Do You Intend to Wear Your Contacts For Long Periods of Time?
Do you envision yourself taking your contacts out each night before bed or do you plan on sleeping with your contacts in? If you plan to continually wear your contacts, let your optometrist know. While extended usage of contacts is often advised against, as it can create health risks, the FDA has approved certain contacts that allow high amounts of oxygen to pass through for extended & overnight wear.

3.)    Will You Have the Time to Properly Care for Your Contacts?
You are probably already thinking of all the convenience contacts will offer, but remember, they require proper care to keep your eyes healthy and happy. This will involve cleaning not only your contacts themselves, but also the case that your contacts are stored in each day. If you are not up to the task of cleaning and disinfecting your lenses and cases each and every day, look towards single use disposable lenses.

If you’ve taken the time to consider these three important questions, your next step will be to schedule an eye exam with your optometrist and get fitted for your new contact lenses!

Night Vision Contact Lenses and Osama bin Laden

When we think about the future of vision technology, science fiction and comic books often bait our imaginations. In 50 years will we attain the Robocop-like overlay of information on the world around us, or Superman’s ability to see through walls? After all we already have the ability to see in the dead of night using night vision goggles.

And now, rumors are circulating that night vision technology has been taken to the next level. At the Kit Up blog on Military.com, which discusses military gear and equipment, the seeds of speculation have been sown that the operatives who captured Osama bin Laden were using “cat vision” or night vision contact lenses.

If this rumor has any truth to it, then it definitely crosses the dividing line between an interesting vision technology and an awesome vision technology. That division lies in the human-machine interface. Using an augmented reality app on your phone has many interesting applications but when the information becomes an extension of our bodies, that’s the future that science fiction has lead us to expect.

If they are for real, these contact lenses would likely be powered by magnetic induction. The person putting on the contact lenses would place a gel with a strong magnetic on the eyelids and the lenses would get charged every time the wearer blinked.

Sadly for fan boys and girls though, even if these contact lenses are 100 percent real, they still have a long slog to make from being top of the line military technology to being fashion contact lenses you could pick up from your local eye doctor.  Still, we can dream can’t we?

Summer Contact Lens Tips

Summertime and the living is sneezy. Summer brings relief from winter winds and spring rains, but it also comes with a slew of challenges, such as allergies, for contact lens wearers.

The first problem is the sun. Many people where fashion contact lenses as a respite from wearing glasses all the time. But in the summer, UV rays can damage your eyes if you don’t wear sunglasses. As an added bonus, sunglasses can help keep dirt and debris out of your eyes, this can be especially important on a sandy beach.

If you prefer to forgo sunglasses, we advise that you look into UV blocking contacts. See if the packaging for the contacts you use says Class 1; this is the highest UV protection available, and this classification means that the lenses will screen 96 percent of UVA rays and all UVB rays from reaching your eyes.

If you end up purchasing UV blocking contact lenses, you still need to worry about protecting the rest of your body from the sun, and that’s where the next problem arises for contact lens wearers. Make sure you choose a waterproof sunscreen, otherwise as soon as you start to sweat, or the minute you decide to wash your face, your eyes will be stinging.

This next piece of advice may seem obvious, but people forget it often enough that it bears repeating. Wearing goggles whether you’re swimming in fresh, salt, or chlorinated water can help keep your contact lenses from getting displaced or irritated. Storing your goggles in the same place you keep your bathing suits and other swimgear can help prevent head smacking moments when you arrive at the beach.

Some final tips for contact lens wearers this summer include:

• Keep fans and air conditioners from blowing directly into your face, especially in the car.
• Use special eye drops to alleviate inflammation brought on by allergies.
• And don’t forget to take a break from wearing your contact lenses periodically, whether it’s for a few hours, or for a whole weekend.