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American Morning

Eyes Get Sunburned Too

Aired July 05, 2002 - 08:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: If you are like the millions who are out in the sun today, you, of course, want to be careful not to get sunburned. But we're not talking about your skin, we are talking about your eyes. And it's no joke here. Excessive exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays can lead to some serious eye problems.

And our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen is joining us with some eye opening, and hopefully some eye protecting advice -- Elizabeth, good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Actually, I think the contact lenses I'm wearing do have UV protection, Daryn. So there you go.

KAGAN: Oh, really?

COHEN: You are right. I am sure if you look really close -- no, I'm kidding. You won't be able to see. But that is -- that is one of the things that I'll be talking about a little later on.

You know, Daryn, when you get a sunburn on your skin, you can feel it. You can feel that it is happening, you can see that it's red. But your eyes could be getting sunburned too, and you wouldn't know it. You might not feel it at all -- you might not feel it for many, many hours afterwards, and what you would feel would be sort of this dry irritation that you might say is due to something else.

So it's something that you really need to think about, protecting your eyes in the sun, and the reason for that is if it happens over and over again, if your eyes are overexposed to the sun over and over again, it can cause serious eye problems, for example, it can cause macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness. So it's something you want to be careful about, especially, for example, if you surf. You're out there in the waves, and all those little glints of light that you see in the ocean can come shooting right back into your eyes. It's also a problem for skiers, because light reflects off of the sun. So the answer is, you need to protect your eyes when you're out in the sun in the same way that you need to protect your skin -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And I understand you brought some props along to make your point, a little show and tell for us on this Friday morning.

COHEN: That's right. A little bit of show and tell. Yes. What we have here is some glasses. I mean, this is very simple. There is nothing hi-tech. You want to look for a sticker that says 100 percent UV protection, or 95 percent UV protection, like the sticker on these.

Also, these have handy dandy little side panels here, and that can keep the sun from getting in from the sides. That's something else to look for.

We also have these sort of funky contact lenses here. As can you see, this is a green lens. It has UV protection, which a lot of lenses have, but this is actually a colored lens that sort of shades your eyes. So surfers sometimes wear this. They apparently look like Martians because their eyes are green, but it also gives them the kind of shade that you would get from a pair of sunglasses, and you obviously really can't wear sunglasses while you are surfing. But again, look for sunglasses that have 100 percent UV protection, and when you are getting contact lenses, try to get the ones that have UV protection as well.

KAGAN: But we want to point out, your eyes really are that blue.

COHEN: Right. Oh yes, this is real. Yes, this is real.

KAGAN: Natural beauty, our Elizabeth Cohen. Now what happens if you actually, though, mess up and your eyes do get sunburn? What kind of relief is there out there for you?

COHEN: Well, there is lots of -- if you go to the drugstore, you'll find lots of drops that provide relief for dry, irritated eyes. So, you can try those. You can also try cold compresses. And if it's really bad, you can go to your doctor and your doctor might be able to prescribe something for the pain.

But other than that, they can't actually treat the burn. If the burn happens, it happens, you've done the damage. But you might be able to treat the pain a little bit with some drops.

KAGAN: So you want to be careful. But, you know, getting back to this idea about contact lenses and the water, a lot of people don't like to wear contact lenses in the water because one big wave, or not closing your eyes properly, and you lose them.

COHEN: That's true. So you can get the kind that you throw away a lot. So if you lose them, you know, you are only wearing them for a week or so at a time, so it is not that big of a deal.

If you are concerned about that, you can also wear goggles when you're in the water. That's what I do when I go swimming, I wear goggles so that my contacts don't get irritated, or don't fall out of my eyes. Those are pretty much the only things you can do.

KAGAN: Right. I mean -- and actually, it is a topic that someone like you or Leon, who -- well, you're not wearing your contacts anymore since you've had that eye surgery.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Not anymore. Not anymore. I've been set free. KAGAN: but having never worn glasses -- but you know from your many years of wearing contact lenses what a pain that can be in the water.

HARRIS: That's right.

KAGAN: Very good. But important to stay protected out there.

COHEN: Got to watch it.

KAGAN: Elizabeth, thank you so much.

COHEN: OK. Bye, Daryn.

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