Whether you are in sand, the ocean, or anywhere else in the great outdoors, summer holds a convincing power to bring you out of your house. This is when you expose your eyes to several dangerous infections and allergies. One possible risk is the swimming pool, which is the culprit of many deleterious eye infections, sunburns, and irritations.
To put it simply, no matter what water activity you like to indulge in, protection of your eyes has to be your foremost priority. Even a fun activity or a leisurely dip in the pool may leave your eyes uncomfortable and red. To help you out with that, we have enumerated some tips to keep your eyes safe from pool water infections.
Protect Your Eyes with Goggles
This is the most important tip you can do to keep your eyes protected from water damage. Sunlight reflects not only water but also cement and sand as well, that increases sun exposure. No matter if you are swimming or bathing in the pool, or just sitting or enjoying the weather at the poolside, covering your eyes is necessary.
Using 100 percent UV protected goggles or sunglasses whenever you go in the water vicinity keeps your eyes safe. UV radiations can cause many eye diseases in which macular-degeneration and cataracts are common. Besides this, short amounts of exposure to harsh sunlight can cause photokeratitis or eye sunburn, which is not only very painful, but affects your vision temporarily.
Avoid Wearing Contact Lenses
Pool water is chlorinated and contains bacteria. Wearing contact lenses while swimming might be dangerous as your lenses can trap these micro-organisms. They may cause eye irritation and infection.
Not only this, if you wear contact lenses under water, it is possible that they can fall off and build up contaminants and chlorine onto the surface of the lens. Even if you wash or clean them, there are certain chemicals and bacteria that do not disinfect properly.
The best option is to avoid wearing contact lenses when you are going underwater. However, if you would still like to keep clear vision, it is possible to get prescription swimming goggles that let you keep clear vision even when you are underwater.
Using one-day disposable lenses is also preferable during any water activities to scale down the risk of water contaminants damaging your eye.
What Else Can You Do To Protect Your Eyes?
Eyewash
Do not forget to wash or splash your eyes with fresh water after swimming to wash off chemicals, contaminants, and chlorine from the eyes, eyelashes, and eyelids.
Eye Drops
Using lubricating eye drops before swimming to protect tear film keeps your eyes comfortable and safe.
Try Tear gel
If your eyes are dry, tear gel may help you with that. Putting in artificial tear gel before wearing swimming goggles protects tear film and prevents eye dryness.
Bottom Line
Overall, whether you are a professional swimmer or hobbyist, the above-mentioned preventative measures are extremely important for the safety of your eyes. Thus, it is better to consult with your optometrist if you already have an eye allergy or infection.
