Outlining the importance of protecting your eyes while sunbathing.
When sunbathing in the professional tanning salon, it is necessary to protect your eyes. Protecting your eyes is one of the basic truths when it comes to safe tanning on a tanning equipment.
Most first time solarium users still have many questions and concerns about the importance of protecting your eyes while sunbathing.
Here are the questions that customers ask on their first visit at the tanning studio, along with the answers:
I wear contact lenses every day โ should I take them off before sunbathing in the solarium?
Unprotected tanning significantly increases the risk of eye irritation, especially since the contact lens hinders blood circulation within the eye and air access, making it difficult for the body to fight irritation and can further aggravate the problem. Causing this irritation is a combination of hot and cold air supply, which can cause drying of lenses. People who sunbathe without eye protection should pull contact lenses out for the duration of the session absolutely. If you decide not to pull the lenses out, you should use appropriate eye drops, before and after sunbathing. However always use eye protection.
My contact lenses have a UV filter โ do I still need additional eye protection when I sunbathe?
Of course, you should always use eye protection. The filter lenses are fantastic. However they only cover the middle part of the eyeball, the other part of your eyes which is the delicate skin around your eyes is unprotected. Contact lenses alone are not enough.
I do not tan my face, during tanning session โ while tanning I cover it with a paper towel. It seems to me that in such a situation I do not need to use protective goggles.
Nothing more wrong. The towel actually stops some of the rays (SPF approx. 5), but not all. The rest of the UV light that penetrates can cause damage to your eyes. The paper towel protects enough rays so that they would not burn your faces during a short session, however during a long tanning session it would not protect your face from burning. Our eyes are more delicate than our skin, therefore is most likely to suffer more than our face.
Importance of protecting your eyes while sunbathing -Wearing sunglasses during a tanning session?
Can I wear sunglassesduring a tanning session?
Sunglasses should not be worn during a tanning session. One of the reasons is the glasses cover a large part of the face around the eyes, leaving the skin untanned. Radiation in the tanning bed spreads differently and many rays can get into the eye. Sunglasses do not provide accurate UV protection during a tanning session, therefore they have not been created to protect your eyes when tanning under the UV lights.
The salon staff advised me to always wear sunglasses, when I leave the salon. Why is this important?
It is important for the same reason, as when sunbathing on a tanning bed. The UV rays emitted by the sun are dangerous, and when you are outside on a sunny day we have to deal with the rays for much longer than during our time on tanning bed in a solarium. Always protect your eyes when leaving the tanning studio, the reason why is because your eyes already have pre-irritated eyes โ it is rare to avoid even a short contact with the light is emitted by the UV lamps.
Closing your eyes during tanning session will not protect them.
I close my eyes while sunbathing, I don’t have to put on protective glasses?
Unfortunately, closing your eyes does not guarantee full protection. The human eyelid stops only approx. 10 000 m. 25% of radiation โ the rest reaches the eye, causing not only irritation, but also increasing the risk of more serious damage to our eyes.
I have my own glasses. Should I clean them or is it not necessary? (No one outside me uses them.)
Of course, they should be cleaned after each use, and most importantly to keep them in a clean, sterile place as possible. For example in a plain foil bag with closure is enough to keep them sterilised. A common mistake is to throw glasses in for example in the training bag, where they land in the vicinity of sweaty t-shirts, socks, underwear, shoes and all kinds of other bacteria hatchery. These bacteria later during sunbathing have a great place to act โ in a closed space and at high temperatures.
Often after sunbathing, I feel a specific itching in my eyes and tearing. What could be the reason?
These may be symptoms of photokeratitis, caused by exposure of insufficiently protected eyes to the UV rays. This causes vision disorder, which makes your vision foggy and lacrimation are accompanied by the feeling of sand in your eyes. These are fragments of a damaged cornea. Remember that the eyes do not have the ability to build melanin cells, therefore the skin can’t protect itself from radiation. Therefore it is our responsibility to take care of our own eyes in a tanning salons and the staff should always remind their customers to use protective goggles. Goggles are best simply washed in warm water with antibacterial soap, then dry with paper towel.
