Your vision is important. Eye strain can cause serious damage to your eyes.

Many of us spend a lot of time in front of computers, or watching the television – especially with World Cup Football fever, we may find ourselves getting eye strain. By wearing the correct glasses this can be avoided. There are so many types of glasses available to choose from today, including glasses that have anti-glare coatings to avoid the glare from computers and televisions.

Here are a few tips to help implement while focusing on your computer screen or television for long periods of time:

• Take a break every 20 minutes, and look away from your screen every now and again, by focusing on something approximately 20 feet away to give your eyes a rest and some relief.
• Blink. Blinking is critical to help lubricate the eyes.
• Keep your computer screen and television screen clean. This will help reduce strain on the eyes and protect your vision.
• Glare from your computer screen can cause unnecessary strain on the eyes, so use a high quality glare reduction filter for your screen.
• Reduce glare by proper lighting, cover windows, and make sure lights are behind or to the side of the computer or television screen.
• Even though you may have good vision, change the size of your font 3 times larger than the normal size to help reduce eye strain while reading the information on the screen.
• Try to keep the lighting in your room at an even level. Contrasting light increases eye strain.
• Your computer monitor should be 20-30 inches away from you, about arm’s length.
• Have your eyes examined regularly
• Minimise glare by installing an anti-glare screen on your computer monitor.

Furthermore, minimise glare by getting anti-reflective (AR) coating on your lenses. Anti-reflective coating on your glasses can significantly reduce the amount of strain, glare and reflected light that reach your eyes. Your optician can professionally help you decide which lens design and options will best suit your needs.

As fashions come and go, like the seasons, even timeless fashion classic items like pearls, LBD’s and sunglasses need to remain fashionable.  Wearing a good pair of sunglasses is very important in bright sunlight, even in the UK, otherwise the glare of the sun makes us screw our faces into all contortions, let alone the harmful effects of UVA and UVB rays on our eyes.  Today, sunglasses come in many styles and everyone is able find a suitable pair to buy that will look good and be fashionable too.

Have you ever wanted to buy a gorgeous pair of fashionable wraparound sunglasses and been told by your optician that you could not have your prescription put in that particular frame?   Well, now you can, Sun Wrap Polarised sun lenses have been specifically designed using asphericity to adjust the optical centres to the correct position for wraparound or oversized sunglasses. Sun Wrap is polarised as standard and has the advantage of being supplied in Polycarbonate.  Sun Wrap provides 85% light absorption and full UVA and UVB protection. Light absorption is the amount of sunlight blocked by the Polarising tint on the lens. Wraparound sun lenses also come in both single vision and varifocal options.

Taking care of your eyes and protecting them from glaring sunshine is very important, but not only do sunglasses protect our eyes from harmful rays, they also act as a barrier against pollen from trees and grass.  By wearing wraparound sunglasses, this helps stop the pollen from getting in our eyes.

Wimbledon season is once again upon us so there will be plenty of tennis, strawberries and cream, gorgeous sunshine and lots of allergy inducing pollens floating in the air and so don’t forget your wrap around sunglasses for ultimate protection against sunburn and itchy eyes!

If your eyes are feeling itchy and red, streaming and burning, then pay attention to what they may be telling you. You may have eye allergies, a condition that affects many people in the UK this time of year. Eye allergies can occur alone, but more often are accompanied by nose allergy symptoms, such as sneezing, streaming and a stuffy nose. Most of us treat nose allergy symptoms, but we often ignore our itchy and watery eyes.

What causes eye allergies?

Eye allergies often are hereditary, and can also occur due to an association with another type of allergic response. Many allergens in the air come into contact with our eyes and nose. Common airborne allergens can include pollen, mould, dust and pet dander.

When an allergic reaction takes place, your eyes may be overreacting to a matter thought as harmful, even though this may not be the case eg. pollen, which is harmless in itself, can cause excessive production of tears and mucus in eyes of an overly sensitive, allergic individual. Other causes of allergies, such as certain foods or bee stings, do not typically affect our eyes the way airborne allergens do, and similarly, adverse reactions to certain cosmetics or medicines such as antibiotic eye drops also may cause eye allergies.

Even cigarette smoke, some perfumes and diesel exhaust can act as an irritant to your eyes and cause non-allergic symptoms or they can worsen your allergic response.

Allergies can trigger other problems, especially individuals who are more susceptible to allergens, such as conjunctivitis (commonly known as pink eye) and asthma.

Common symptoms of allergies include:

• Red, swollen or itchy eyes
• Runny nose
• Sneezing and coughing
• Itchy nose, mouth or throat
• Headache

Beyond more obvious symptoms, you also may feel tired and could suffer from lack of sleep.

How can we avoid eye allergies?

In most cases successful management of eye allergies is quite simple. Prevent or avoid what is causing your eye allergy.

• Keep your home free of pet dander and dust and keep pets off fabric furniture.
• Stay indoors when the pollen counts in the air are high – and keep the windows closed.
• Saline douches or a little Vaseline applied inside the nose will reduce symptoms.
• Avoid parks or fields, especially in the early evening when there is a lot of pollen floating in the air.
• Get someone else to mow the lawn and don’t lie on freshly cut grass.
• Wear wraparound sunglasses to help shelter your eyes from pollen, and drive with the windows closed.