How to protect your eyes from the smokey air
Smokey skies are causing eyes to become irritated, itchy and watery. Optometrist Lisa Porter says she’s seen a lot of patients lately affected by the smoke and allergens in the air.
“What the eye lid should look like when I invert it or flip it is it should be flat like the back of my hand,” Dr. Porter said. “But what happens with allergies is you can see here is more severe (bumpy). So we’ve got more of our mild, more of our moderate, ore of our severe cases. And sadly I am seeing more of the severe cases because the smoke is so dense.”
She recommends using over the counter eye drops to alleviate the effects. She also says don’t wait too long to get your eyes taken care of or you may need a steroid. Another way to prevent symptoms is putting in an artificial tear such as Refresh or Systane before going outside.
“If you can put that tear in before you go out and then again when you come back in, it’s actually going to alleviate some of those allergens and toxins that can get in your eye and cause that swelling and redness and edema,” Dr. Porter said.
If your eyes are puffy due to the air, use something cool to alleviate the swelling.
“Let’s say you get up in the morning and you’re just really swollen and really red, one thing I tell my patients is get a cool compress,” Dr. Porter said. “Get a wash cloth maybe put a few ice cubes in it or get some cool water on it and just place it over your eyes, that will help you kind of get going in the morning and then again try those allergy drops, they’re really beneficial this time of year.”
Dr. Porter recommends wearing sunglasses anytime you’re outside to protect them from the smokey air. She also says if you are using allergy eye drops on kids, you only need to do it once a day, not twice a day like it says on the box.
