While you’re slathering on the sun cream during sunny weather, spare a thought for your eyes. You might think that eye protection is a fashion choice, but it’s one of the most important things for long-term eye health. There’s an overwhelming amount of research into the topic of UV rays and your eyes – too much exposure can lead to a loss of eyesight, cataracts, macular degeneration and even skin cancer near your eyelids.
It’s something you should start taking as seriously as your sun cream routine when you head outside, so let’s see how you can protect your eyes from harmful UV rays this summer.
Wear Sunglasses
You should begin with the obvious tip: wear sunglasses as much as possible when the sun’s out. The right sunglasses will protect your eyes from harmful UV rays by blocking their path with special lenses. That’s the crucial thing here – your sunglasses need to have UV-blocking lenses, so avoid the cheap £10 ones as they don’t do any good.
You’ll find loads of great options and styles that protect your eyes and suit your face. Sites like Just Good Glasses also offer reglazing services, which means you can take old sunglasses and get them fitted with new lenses to offer even more UV protection. Regardless of what you buy, make sure you wear your sunglasses when you’re outside.
Shade Your Eyes With A Hat
Sunglasses can get uncomfortable if you wear them for hours, so get yourself a hat to compliment them. You’ll need a hat that can shade your face from the sun, casting a shadow over your eyes. Bucket hats or sun hats are both perfectly suitable for this – as are typical baseball caps.
The additional benefit of wearing a hat is that it shades your entire face, which can increase UV protection for your skin. This lowers your chances of developing skin cancer and will also help your sun cream protect your skin for longer.
Don’t Look At The Sun
Yes, it’s obvious, but please avoid looking at the sun. Everyone knows that it’s bad to stare directly at the sun, yet we sometimes do it by accident. Or, arguably worse, we look at it indirectly – which still exposes our eyes to UV rays.
It can be very tempting to glance up and bask in the joyous warmth of the sun but try to quit this habit. Staring at the sun is the number one way to destroy your eye health and end up with a long list of eyesight problems when you’re older.
That’s all you need to do to protect your eyes from the sun this summer – and you can throw in your normal sun cream routine as well. Take extra care to apply sun cream around your eye area, particularly under the eyes and on the top of your eyelids. This will give the skin there some extra protection, which can reduce the risk of skin cancer and delay the common signs of ageing in that area, like wrinkles and crow’s feet.
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