Have sunscreen? What about sunglasses? Protecting eyes is ‘critical,’ says one B.C. doctor

While most folks understand the risks of excessive sun exposure to your skin, one B.C. doctor is reminding the public about how important it is to protect your eyes to prevent damage from UV rays.

Dr. Neeru Gupta, head of the ophthalmology and visual sciences department at UBC, says excessive exposure to the sun’s powerful rays can hurt, and burn, your eyes in a similar way to your skin.

“It is critical to understand they are there all the time we can see them we can’t feel them,” she told CityNews.

“And the way they cause damage is they hurt our DNA. They cause break ups, and the DNA is the code of instructions telling our cells how to behave, and if they don’t behave well they might replicate or divide abnormally, degenerate, lead[ing] to cancer and vision loss.”

Gupta says the sun can also increase the risk of macular degeneration — a disease that affects the retina.

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UV rays are the strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Gupta explains, and while wearing a pair of sunglasses is your best defence, not all of them are created equal.

“Sunglasses that have UV 400 protection is what you are looking for. So, look at the tag, look at that label for UV 400 or 100 per cent UV protection. [That] is what’s going to protect your eyes,” she said.

While most folks out enjoying Vancouver’s sunshine along the Sea Wall Friday could be seen donning sunglasses, some were concerned about deteriorating eyesight due to sun exposure.

“I don’t want to become blind,” one person told CityNews.

Another said that as they’re getting older, they “want to keep what I got for as long as I can.”

Gupta notes it’s also important to protect the eyes of little ones in your life.

“They’re young, they’re growing, they’re developing. These [injuries] are accumulative over a lifetime, and while the body can repair to some extent, and at a certain point it would be able to do that, kids should have their sun hats and sunglasses on,” she said.

And when the temperature drops later this year as we head into fall and winter, it’s not time to become complacent and tuck those sunglasses away.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s snowing. It doesn’t matter if you’re close to water. All of that extra reflection of light is going to impact the UV radiation. Just keep that in mind and always keep your sunglasses close,” she said.