Protective Eyewear: Take Care of Your Eyes & Stay Healthy

As we take steps to return to our daily routines, there are still some things that we can do to keep ourselves safe and healthy during this pandemic.

We all know the usual wash your hands, wear a mask, keep a distance that’s been repeated ad nauseam, and work from home. One of the things usually not mentioned is the protection needed for your eyes. 

Between the battery of electronic devices that are the new normal for many of us working from home and the ability of infectious diseases to be transmitted via the eye’s mucous membranes, the eyes can be susceptible to many dangers that we may not think about often. Luckily, a couple of different types of eyewear are available to us that can help us mitigate these issues. They will alleviate the strains we put our eyes through and keep us and our eyes healthy.

Blue Filter Lenses

With as much time as we spend in front of our electronic devices such as computers, phones, and televisions, the strain it places on our eyes becomes apparent. While some research suggests that it’s general digital overuse and not blue light that causes eye problems, the anecdotes from consumers are hard to ignore.

Using blue filtering glasses, we can improve sleep, especially for those who find ourselves on our devices late into the evening. However, many vision-related organizations urge moderation in screen use. Most suggest adopting the 20-20-20 rule. This means that every 20 minutes, you look at an object at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This helps to relax the eye muscles and relieves eye strain. 

In addition to reducing the strain we experienced through the day working on our computers, there are some other benefits of filtering blue light from our devices. Researchers agree that blue light from devices holds back your body’s production of sleep-inducing Melatonin. This hormone helps your body know when it’s time to sleep and wake up. Thus, the interruption of this process will cause issues with your sleep patterns. 

Safety Glasses

On the other end of the spectrum is our time spent outside the home and around others. Eyes are one area of exposure that many people forget about, and as such, don’t take the proper precautions to prevent catching the virus via the eyes.

Well-fitted goggles provide the most reliable and practical eye protection from splashes, sprays, and respiratory droplets. Many styles fit over prescription glasses with minimal gaps. Keep in mind that goggles will only protect your covered eyes and not other parts of the face. However, common sense dictates that using eye protection that keeps your eyes from taking a frontal attack as you walk through a mist of someone else’s respiratory droplets, will give you some added protection. Thus, the more protection you give your eyes, the better chances you have to avoid the virus.

Those who work in the healthcare field and those exposed to large groups, face shields are commonly used as an infection control alternative to goggles. Unlike goggles, a face shield offers some protection to other parts of the face, but must be handled with care as the exposed front of the face shield could carry the virus and if touched, could be transferred to your mouth, nose or eyes, during one of the thousands of times we feel our face every day.

Eyewear alone is not enough.

With all the available options, what is most important is remembering that these products alone will not keep you healthy and safe. These are tools to use in concert with social distancing, washing of hands, hand sanitizers, not shaking hands, face coverings for yourself, those around you, and quarantining yourself when you don’t feel well. All these measures will help all of us not catch the Coronavirus COVID-19. Stay safe.