VISIQUE KAPITI EYECARE

Spring brings winds and dust and pollen...anti-allergy drops work if someone actually has an allergy, but they are not much help if you have "irritated eyes" from the wind or windblown dust.

Sometimes simple things are the best - avoiding going outside on a day with a high pollen count or a dry, windy day. Wearing your prescription glasses or sunglasses blocks some of the irritant reaching your eyes. Every few years a "breakthrough" is announced where a frame manufacturer produces an "anti-allergy" spectacle frame - either sealing the frame tightly to the face so no irritants from the air can reach the eyes, or having a fan or a puffer to blow clean air across the eyes.

These haven't caught on.

If your eyes are red and sore, sometimes just putting a cool compress, maybe a used cooled teabag or a cool facecloth, over the shut eyelids gives relief. If simple techniques like this don't work, make an appointment with your optometrist - we can give advice or prescribe anti-allergy drops (if appropriate). Pharmacists can help, but they cannot see the eyes as well as optometrists can (we have the equipment) so can advise more appropriately to give people eye relief in the spring.

Year round, really.