Protect your Eyes from Sun Damage with U-V Blocking Contact Lenses

We are constantly warned of the damage that sun can do to our skin as we see increasing investigations into just what our bodies are going through when we expose them to even mild amounts of U-V light. However, we apply our sun cream abundantly, drink plenty of water and do as we’re told; but thinking about it, one of the only places without protection against the sun are our eyes.

What about sunglasses? Baseball caps? Doctors warn that these alone are not enough to protect our eyes and they do not offer 100% protection as sun can still get in through the sides an so on. Thus, it now appears that all glasses wearers are to benefit for a change with the recent study conducted on the benefits of wearing U-V contact lenses. The results of the study have been released in the Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science annual conducted by The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Throughout the study, rabbits were exposed to the human equivalent of 16 hours sunlight a day and this alone can bring on changes within the eye. Too much U-V light can accentuate problems such as cataracts, damage to the cornea and so on, but it appeared that the rabbits wearing the U-V contact lens were not affected by the sunlight at all.

Heather Chandler, a leading vision researcher, suggests that these results offer great hope to providing the eyes with something that fully prevents sun damage. However, she goes on to warn us that this is still a very new area and whilst there are several different contact lenses on the market that offer U-V protection, they will all be off different levels and efficiencies. Additionally, the research so far has only involved short-term periods so the benefits need to be weighed up for long-term analysis before any line is drawn under the conclusion. Yet looking to the future Chandler expresses sincere anticipation that this study could help prove that U-V protection within contact lenses could benefit thousands of people’s eye health.

28th January 2010

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