Optician says hay fever sufferers should follow simple rule to reduce eye discomfort

Spring time is often when hay fever symptoms being as pollen levels soar

With spring well under way, hay fever is also on the rise among millions of Brits. With hay fever comes watery, itchy, red eyes, runny noses and coughing and sneezing.

If you suffer from itchy eyes, your first instinct may be to rub your eyes vigorously to relieve the discomfort. However, according to Tina Patel, contact lens optician at Feel Good Contacts, this is not a good idea as it may actually make your symptoms worse. Therefore, rubbing your eyes is not an effective remedy to relieve itchy eyes. Instead, Tina reveals four tips on how to successfully care for our itchy eyes and stop them from getting aggravated by the pollen.

1. Avoid rubbing your eyes

Rubbing your eyes will not provide relief, but instead, it is likely to cause more inflammation. Tina says: “The act of rubbing your eyes releases histamine, which aggravates allergy symptoms further. Alongside this, rubbing your eyes with dirty hands is likely to expose eyes to bacteria. This can lead to infections such as conjunctivitis or styes, which will worsen your hay fever symptoms.

“To combat this, it’s prudent to lubricate eyes with artificial tears or over-the-counter antihistamine drops regularly. This should help to quickly alleviate discomfort, whilst not worsening symptoms."

If you do wear contact lenses, ensure you’re washing and drying your hands properly before handling your contacts and touching your eyes to prevent eye infections.

1. Wear sunglasses

Not only will sunglasses protect your eyes from UV rays, but they will also provide a barrier from pollen flying into your eyes. Choosing oversized designs like square or aviator sunglasses have a partially wide surface area, which makes them the best glasses for keeping pollen at bay and stopping you from subconsciously itching your eyes.

1. Use a cold compress

“Using a cold compress for 5-10 minutes a day will be extremely beneficial for reducing puffiness, redness and swelling from hay fever. This will provide quick and easy relief that will be much more effective than rubbing your eyes.”

You could also use ice cubes wrapped in a towel or tea bags that have been left in the fridge overnight.

1. Switch to daily contact lenses

For those who wear contact lenses, it is much more challenging not to touch your eyes. However, what you can do is keep your hands clean so that every time you put your lenses in, you are not exposing your eyes to germs and bacteria.

Furthermore, allergens in the air tend to stick to the surface of contact lenses, which is likely to cause irritation, watering and swelling. As such, Tina suggests, “it would be favourable to consider switching to daily contact lenses, which means you can simply throw away the lenses after each use, preventing the build-up of allergens”.