As soon as people hear UV protection, they think of the summer. The truth is that UV protection is a must all year round.

Summer is the most important time to protect your eyes from the harmful rays of the sun, especially from 2pm to 4pm, when UV rays are at their highest. But winter can be even more harmful to the eyes if we skip the sunglasses and/or don’t use UV protective goggles. Regular glasses with UV protective coating and good sunglasses should be worn all year round, indoors and out.

Regardless of the weather, cloudy or sunny, we are exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UV) from the sun. It can cause significant damage to the eyes, including eye cancer.

There are actually two types of radiation in sunlight that affect the eye, UVA and UVB. UVA affects the lens in the eye, and has been linked to developing cataracts, a clouding of the lens of the eye that can lead to loss of vision. Cataract surgery can replace the damaged lens, but surgery can be risky in general, and not everyone has a good outcome with this form of surgery in particular.

UVB rays can cause severe damage to the retina, which can lead to vision problems and even blindness.

Your eyes can suffer from sunburn just like your skin, and in particular, the cornea of the eye, which helps protect it and is also important for focusing our vision.

In the same way UV rays can harm our skin and cause cumulative damage over time, our eyes can be affected over time, which can lead to blindness.

Smarter UV Eye Care

Don’t use cheap sunglasses. Get ones with maximum UV protection and good coverage of the entire eye area, such as wrap-arounds. Lenses should be brown, gray or green.

If you wear glasses, opt for a UV coating on your lenses and consider progressive lens that change color in the changing light, offering better protection from UV rays.