Can Eyes Get Sunburn?

Can Eyes Get Sunburn?

Take a lesson from CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper’s brush with 36 hours of temporary blindness: avoid overexposure to the sun. You may not think the sun is emitting damaging rays on cloudy days, but its strength does not discriminate. The sun will find any exposed area and lay claim to it – including your eyes.

Anderson Cooper’s 3 days of pain and discomfort were a result of photokeratitis – a condition like sunburn in the eyes. Mild photokeratitis can feel as if there is grit stuck in the eyes – a sensation caused by layers of the cornea peeling following the sunburn. Those with extreme cases describe the condition as feeling as if their eyeballs are on fire.

In Anderson Cooper’s case, the sun reflected off of water – and UV exposure can increase 25% when rays are scattered and reflected off of a reflective surface. Remember this when you are enjoying watersports this summer, or even just lounging in the pool or ocean – and always use sunglass protection. We have a large selection of designer sunglasses in our full-service Optical Shop – check out our new sunglass Optical Special!

If you experience overexposure to the sun and your eyes get sunburn, call our team at 732-774-5566 to get on the track to recovery.

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