Spring is here! Along with the sunshine, flowers, fun and BBQ’s (we hope) comes the troubles of hayfever and contact lens wear. Your eyes start to itch, your nose starts to run – it happens to the best of us! For contact lens wearers, it can be extra troubling if not handled correctly (that’s right, you can still wear your lenses during hayfever season).
But, never fear – we’re here to give you quick and easy tips so you can enjoy the fine weather to the fullest!
Tip 1: Check The Forecast
I’m going kick it back to the Boy Scout hand book here – be prepared! It’s important to know in advance when your hayfever is going to be at its worst.
The Met Office has a fantastic tool which lets you know the pollen count in your area. With this tool, you’ll know beforehand what days your hayfever will really affect you. You’ll also know when to make the most out of the following tips coming up in this guide...
If you don’t know already, different types of pollen (grass, tree and weed pollen) can affect you more than others.
For a rough indication – tree pollen usually begins late March and ends mid-May, grass pollen follows after until July and then weed pollen, beginning late in June, ends around September time.
Tip 2: Remove All Traces Of Pollen
This is super important. Pollen can build up quickly and can even stick to your clothes, hats, contact lenses and all sorts. The hayfever season makes thorough cleaning a must! Otherwise, it’ll take a long while for the irritation to stop.
If you followed tip 1, you’ll know which days are highest in pollen levels. These are the days you need to rinse and clean your attire thoroughly.
More than that, you NEED to make sure you’re washing your hands regularly – we touch our eyes, nose and face sometimes subconsciously. This spreads pollen further and aggravates our senses.
It’s even a good idea to give your face a rinse with soap and water now and again, particularly around the nose and eyes.
Tip 3: Proper Contact Lens Care
Calling contact lens wearers! You are absolutely fine to wear your lenses during hayfever season – however, you need to make sure you are keeping them clean and stored properly so the pollen doesn’t stick around.
We also recommend cleaning them out more often than usual as this gives pollen less opportunity to build up.
Tip 4: Use Daily Disposables
If you don’t fancy sticking to tip 3, then it may be worth your while chatting with your optometrist about changing to daily disposables.
Daily contact lenses are thrown away at the end of the day so you don’t need to worry much about a build-up of pollen and allergens.
Daily contacts are also really handy around the summer or springtime, especially if you’re not a full-time contact lens wearer. It means you can switch your glasses out whenever you’re up to any outdoor activities.
Tip 5: Use Eye Drops
Eye drops are often used for dry or irritated eyes but they also work great for relieving hayfever symptoms.
Many eye drops come in neat, portable bottles too. You can keep them on your person for when those irritations start to pop up.
Tip 6: Layer Up With Vaseline
This is a great hayfever hack.
If you have a tub of Vaseline handy, take some and layer it around your nostrils and under the eyes. The Vaseline jelly will catch the pollen and act as a pollen barrier, trapping the annoying particles before they reach the eyes and nose.