Protect Your Peepers

If you do a lot of water and beach sports, consider polarized lenses. They reduce the glare from water, sand and surfaces like blacktops. Not all polarized lenses have full UV protection; you'll need to check the label. If you use tanning beds (which we are not encouraging), make sure you protect your eyes there, as well. That goes double if you’ve had laser surgery. You may not be able to see as well after spending time in a tanning bed without adequate eye protection, Royal warns.

Sunglasses can also help protect your eyes from cancer, which can develop on the eyelid, on the skin around the eye, as well as on the eye surface and cornea. Royal says she detects a surprising number of cancers around the eye. "In my own practice, I've seen a huge number of these," she says. Using sunscreen on the eyelid and close to your eye may sting and irritate if it gets brushed into your eye, though. Royal suggests experimenting with cosmetics that have sunscreen in them. You might also want to try a moisturizer or eye cream that contains sunscreen.

Sunglasses aren't the only way to get extra protection for your eyes. Wearing any type of eyeglasses or contact lenses offers a significant defense against UV. While you can purchase prescription glasses and contact lenses (soft lenses and gas-permeable hard lens.) with UV protection, ophthalmologists are not unanimous that this is a good idea. However, if you have intraocular lenses surgically implanted after cataract surgery, you'll want to make sure they protect against UV rays.

While there are numerous ways to protect your eyes from the sun, sunglasses are still probably the cheapest and easiest way to do it. Now that summer’s almost here, tuck a pair in your purse, and leave another in the car. As Jackie O knew, wearing the right sunglasses makes you look smart—in more ways than one.

© 2006