Welcome 30A visitors and hello lovely locals. It’s clear Spring Break is in full swing here along the emerald coast. While we hope you’ll always take great care to lather up with sunscreen before you hit our white sandy beaches we also hope you’ll remember to protect your eyes. Being on vacation is no reason to skip your daily routine so, if you wear contact lenses, follow these guidelines and your happy healthy peepers will thank you!
Bring a back-up. Pack a pair of glasses, extra contacts, and all your contact lens supplies with you when traveling.
Always take your contacts out before bed. Sleeping in contact lenses has been linked to serious sight-threatening eye infections.
Protect yourself from the sun. Always wear sunscreen with at least SPF 15. For eye protection, wear sunglasses that provide 100 percent UV ray protection.
Remove contacts before swimming. Exposing contact lenses to water can lead to painful, and in rarer cases blinding, eye infections. Water is full of bacteria, parasites, amoeba and other toxins that can cause irritation or infections that may result in permanent visual impairment or blindness. This could be water from a swimming pool, the ocean, freshwater lakes, hot tubs and even the shower!
We always recommend daily disposable contact lenses as we feel it is the healthiest option for contact lens wearers. There are many benefits to daily contacts or “dailies”. You never have to clean them or worry about buying solution, you just toss them at the end of the day and replace with a fresh new lens the following day. Dailies are also ideal for patients with ocular allergies as a fresh, clean lens everyday reduces deposits and build-up which can exacerbate allergy symptoms. Dailies greatly reduce the incidence of infection and are perfect for children, active lifestyles and are ideal when you are on vacation, especially when it involves sun, sand and salty water!
For those who are active in swimming, scuba diving or other water sports and concerned about being able to see without wearing lenses, prescription goggles or sunglasses may be a good option.
Please keep our advice in mind as you enjoy your break and our beautiful beaches. We also invite you to visit our optical boutique located in Redfish Village along 30A in Blue Mountain Beach. Not only do we provide comprehensive and emergent eyecare for the whole family but we also carry a wide variety of luxury sunglasses and prescription eyewear. Happy Spring Break!