Winter in Colorado can be a challenging season, especially for our eyes. With the cold air of Winter comes dryness, allergies, and sun exposure that is different than other times of the year. By being prepared, and knowing how to stay healthy, you can ensure that your eyes provide you with comfortable, clear vision, even in the colder months of Winter. Vista Eye Care is your local eye doctor and our optometrists are here to help with your eyes and vision!

Dry eye affects many people in Colorado. “Dry, irritated eyes are probably one of the biggest complaints that patients mention,” says Dr. Brian Abert, O.D., FAAO. “We like to identify our dry eye patients early in the dry seasons and help them alleviate their symptoms.” Dry eyes can occur because of many factors, though the dry winter air certainly doesn’t help. Dry eyes can be caused by age (older folks tend to be more likely to get dryness), gender (women tend to have dryer eyes), history of corneal refractive surgery (including LASIK and PRK), certain systemic medications (such as anti-histamines), certain systemic disease (such as some forms of arthritis), and exposure to air currents (including indoor heating and cooling systems and being outdoors in general). The cornea is the most sensitive part of the human body and even a small amount of dryness may not be tolerated. Our doctors will investigate the cause of the dryness and work to treat not just the symptoms, but the cause. Wrap-around sunglasses are great for preventing winds from bothering the tear layer and there is an entire arsenal of excellent rewetting drops to help restore moisture to the ocular surface. If the symptoms are severe enough, prescription medications may be utilized to help reduce inflammation and get the dry eyes back to a moist, comfortable baseline. In addition, punctal plugs allow our doctors to plug-up the natural drains in the lids, keeping more tears present in the eyes for a longer period of time. This is often an easy option for patients to get their eyes comfortable.

Allergies and Colorado seem to go together whether we like it or not. Though Spring and Fall are often associated with pollen and hayfever, Winter brings a whole new allergy problem: heating systems are fired up and circulate air through ductwork that is loaded with dust and pollen that has collected there all the rest of the year. Every time you enter a store you are blasted with air, and at home our furnaces circulate air loaded with allergens. Even though flowers and weeds are nowhere to be seen, allergies can be quite strong for some patients living in Thornton, Brighton, Westminster, and Northglenn. Itchy, irritated eyes are common in the North Denver area. Red eyes, pink eyes, bloodshot eyes, they all suggest some sort of chronic irritation. Often times we can prescribe good anti-allergy eye drops that can be used topically. These will help keep the allergic reaction under control for the duration of your particular allergy season. If the allergies and inflammation are bad enough, our doctors may also recommend topical steroid drops to help calm the eyes more quickly.

There’s an awful lot of sunlight in Colorado, and Winter is no exception. Winter presents a challenge to eye protection because light bounces off snow, reflecting UV rays from the ground on up. We recommend good sun protection for all our patients when outdoors, especially in those patients that spend considerable time outside. Ultraviolet light exposure is the driving force behind cataracts, macular degeneration, and some skin cancers. The first step to preventing these diseases is to keep that part of the spectrum out of our eyes. Wearing good UVA and UVB blocking sunwear is crucial when living at altitude as we do in Colorado. We get far more ultraviolet exposure here than those folks living at sea level, and we have to be careful about protecting our eyes! Wrap-style sunwear is designed to prevent any light leaking around the edges of the frame. Besides keeping your eyes comfortable in the bright light, UV light reflected off the snow is keep out of your eyes.

Our doctors recommend yearly eye and vision exams to investigate problems such as dryness, allergies, and other ocular diseases. Please contact our office to schedule your yearly exam!