Eye Health Facts
What is welding flash?
The bright light generated by some welding equipment is very high in UV content. And, just as too much UV outdoors can cause sunburn, so the UV light from welders can cause sunburn-like damage to the clear skin layer covering the front of the eye. Sometimes straight away but often a few hours after the welding flash, the damaged cells die and fall off, exposing the very sensitive, nerve-rich layers below. The pain and discomfort is such that most people make sure they never get welding flash a second time.
A similar effect can happen by spending a bright sunny day at the snow without sunglasses.
Eye Health Facts
Itchy Eyes
It's possible to get itchy eyes with a viral infection, but most commonly itchy eyes are caused by allergy - seasonal or all through the year.
Treatment for allergic conjunctivitis can take on a number of forms:
- If possible, try to identify the allergen, and minimise contact with it.
- Cold compresses can help with symptomatic relief.
- Anti-histamine eye-drops are useful for occasional allergic eye.
- Combination anti-histamine/ mast cell stabilisers work best in situations where an allergic season is well defined.
- More severe cases may require corticosteroid eyedrops to bring the inflammation under control.