The Importance of Wearing Sunglasses
23 May 2018
Skin cancer awareness month is more than just protecting your skin. It’s about protecting your whole body from the sun. It’s easy toforget your eyes are just as at risk and that sunglasses are more than just a fashion accessory, they’re a necessity.
When people think about skin cancer they think about getting it on the large areas of their body like their back or chest, but your eyelids and the skin around your eyes are just as likely to develop skin cancer. When you’re out running errands, driving, playing sports, the majority of your body is probably well protected with clothing – and hopefully sun cream. Sunglasses aren’t always the first thing we reach for if we’re busy but without them the damage the sun can cause is shocking.
Exposing your eyes to the sun can affect your eye’s ability to adapt to indoor or night-time lighting which causes strain and damage. It can also mean that because they’re slow to adjust and adapt, night-time driving becomes dangerous after a long day of bright light exposure. Driving without sunglasses in the day can mean our vision is not protected from bright glares causing you to squint and be at risk of crashing.
You probably hear and see the word ‘UV’ a lot during the Summer, it’s always talked about on adverts, advertised on sun creams and it would be an easy mistake to think UV is a danger to the skin. UV can also damage your eyes as well as your skin, it can cause cataracts, growths and eventually blindness.
There are plenty of ways that you can prevent any of this though with just three easy steps!
1. Wear protective eyewear whenever you expose your eyes to bright sunlight – make sure your glasses high protecting from UVA and UVB. These don’t have to cost a fortune either, a cheap pair can be purchased for around £7 on Amazon and they’ll last you years if you care for them right!
2. Protect your children too! Often cheap children’s sunglasses don’t have the protection they need so be sure to purchase the best ones – again they don’t have to cost a lot!
3. Wear caps, or hats with sun visor cover to shade your eyes with or without sunglasses!
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