As 2012 starts off and your New Year resolutions are fresh, don’t forget to follow some important eye care tips, especially if you wear contact lenses or spectacles. Each vacation comes with its own set of eye care rules, whether it’s by the sea, up on the mountains, or in an unfamiliar city. Ignoring to follow these vacation eye care tips could lead to ill-timed infections.

Eye care tips for beach vacations: Beach vacations come with healthy doses of harsh sunlight, dust, sand, and the salty sea.

Those who wear yearly/monthly contact lenses must carry daily disposable contact lenses to wear in the water. This is crucial as water-borne amoeba infections could arise due to lens re-use.

Ensure that your sunglasses are UV protected and polarised. While the UV protection will protect your eyes, the polarised feature will cut glare by a 100% making it much safer to go zipping down coastal roads.

Eye care tips for mountain vacations: Mountain vacations can prove to be difficult for contact lens care if temperatures are at freezing points or even if they’re just a few degrees lower than what your eyes are accustomed to. Avoid situations like dry eyes that cause contact lens discomfort.

Wear protective weather-resistant sun goggles or sunglasses to avoid tear evaporation. If there’s snow around, then make it a point to get a good pair of snow goggles.

UV protection and polarised sunglasses are a must to avoid snow glare. Mountains experience harsh sunlight and glare during the day, therefore make sure that you’re carrying enough equipment to block these harsh weather elements.

Invest in some good snow hats or hooded jackets to cut the drying winds a bit before they reach your eyes.

Carry a spare pair of contact lenses, or better still daily disposable lenses for added reassurance.

A warm case for your contact lens kit, from lens case to solution, will help ensure that nothing freezes.

Eye care tips for city vacations: While cities are relatively safer for eye care during vacations, they’re not without a few worries. For instance, elements like weather changes, wind factor, humidity, and hotel pools could still bring eye infections and other irritants knocking at your doorstep. A few eye care tips to keep these at bay:

Be aware of what weather the city is experiencing. With the recent climate shifts due to the tsunami and earthquakes, even the warmest tropical cities are experiencing cold showers at the moment. So go prepared.

If you plan to go dipping in the hotel pool, then the same rules as those for beach vacations apply here. Carry disposable contact lenses, and never re-use lenses after you’ve been in the water.

Apart from vacation spot specific eye care tips, here are some universal eye care tips you must observe even on vacation:

1.Clean your contact lenses every day.

2.Leave your contact lenses in the solution for at least 8 hours before next use.

3.Clean the lens case with lukewarm water or/and a mild shampoo once a week.

4.Never wipe the contact lens case with tissue or cloth. Air dry only.

5.Use only clean hands and nails (esp. the index finger) when wearing or removing contact lenses.

6.Keep your nails trimmed and clean at all times.

7.Lens should be in perfect bowl position at the time of application.

8.Women should follow FIFO – first in first out - when applying make up. Therefore, first wear the lenses and then add eye make up. Similarly, first remove the lenses and then remove eye make up.

9.Do not wash your face (with or without face wash) while wearing lenses.

10.Do not bathe with your contact lenses on.

11.Swimmers should go for daily disposable lenses. Do not swim with regular lenses

So here’s hoping that you will take care of your eyes by following our eye care tips this winter season. Remember: The objective is to stay safe and have a great time. Enjoy yourself!

Anita Kumar is the author of this article on Sunglasses.
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