Protect Your Eyes During Camping and Festival Season
Every year when spring rolls around, we are blinded by the promise of warmer (and longer) days and all the fun that goes with them. You may be an avid camper who’s hoping the rain will hold off so you can get back to nature; or perhaps you’re eagerly awaiting leaving your regular life behind for a long weekend of music and chill vibes at one of the country’s many music festivals.
Either way, with all the upcoming plans and excitement, it’s unlikely you will have dedicated much time thinking about your eyecare in the coming months. But with hay allergies, sun exposure, and other elements holding the potential to wreak havoc on our eyes, it’s worth learning a thing or two about protecting these valuable organs amongst all the fun – especially if you wear contact lenses!
In this article, we’re going to take a deep dive on some potential threats that may be particularly prevalent during camping and festival season – and how to tackle them.
An Increased Risk of Eye Infections
Part of the charm of music festivals lies in the temporary break from normal life – complete with a lack of a personal shower and toilet! But while it’s usually easy to get used to this (at least for a few days), the assoiated lack of a sterile environment can be bad news for those who wear contact lenses.
Contact lenses can be like magnets for dust and grime. But plonk them in a field or a forest environment with few sanitation facilities and this can be cranked up another notch. Bacteria and dirt on your hands can be easily transferred to your contact lenses at the best of times. This exposure can lead to irritation, blurry visionm and eye infections such as conjunctivitis and keratitis. This risk is particularly heightened if you usually wear monthly contact lenses.
Other than opting to wear glasses for the weekend and avoiding the mosh pit and any clumsy, drunk people (difficult when thats you!), you can switch to daily lenses.
Of course, an even better option is to do away with the contacts and glasses altogether! Having Laser Eye Surgery could not only mean you won’t have to worry about cleaning your lenses in a tent or Portaloo after each use, but also that you never have to worry about contacts or infections at a festival or outdoorsy trip ever again.
The Pesky Symptoms of Hay Fever
It’s estimated that almost half of people in the UK may suffer from hay fever symptoms. This makes it one of the most common allergies in the country, and its effects – including blocked and runny noses, sneezing, and of course, itcht and irritated eyes – are often much more apparent in the spring and summer months.
Whether you’re hiking, camping, or just sitting in the garden, pollen can attack at any moment. But when you find yourself with limited access to clean, running water (and in an environment that can be a hotbed for harmful bacteria), hay fever can quickly escalate from itchy, bloodshot eyes to something more serious.
It is important to always ensure you have a healthy supply of antihistamines and eye drops to help prevent and relieve hay fever symptoms.
Dehydration and Dry Eyes
From long days soaking up the sunshine to late nights in beer gardens, festival tents, or sat around a campfire, the summer months can make it much easier for you to unwittingly become dehydrated. But whether its at a booze-fuelled festival or a quiet mini-break in the country, dehydration can be terrible for your eyes.
Many signs of dehydration – such as dry mouth, headaches, and lethargy – are easy to notice. But all too often, we neglect the effect this can have on our eyes. But when moisture is sapped from our eyes, we can soon start to experience symptoms such as irritation and dry eye.
This can happen particularly quickly when we drink a lot of alcohol. Furthermore, contact lenses can also significantly contribute to dryness in the eye. Having dry eyes can make them more susceptible to incoming bacteria and pathogens.
To reduce the risk of dry eye, it is recommended that you avoid long periods in the sun and always wear sunglasses. You should also try to drink 6-8 cups of water per day and limit alcohol intake. You may also choose to carry some lubricating eye drops, just in case the other precautions don’t quite cut it!
Want to learn more about the best ways to protect your eye health? Get in touch with one of our friendly clinic coordinators – we’re always on hand to help. Alternatively, to find out if you could ditch the contact lenses for good, Book a Consultation using the form below.