Holi 2023: The festival of fun filled Holi is here! The festivities are usually filled with gulal, colours, water guns and water balloons. Amidst all the stimuli, we can ingest colors through open organs of the body including the eyes. Paint or other materials often manage to get into our eyes, affecting this very sensitive organ. Contact lens wearers should be aware that the lenses absorb Holi colors and thus can stick to the lenses for a long time and damage them. And given that most of these dyes contain harmful agents such as industrial dyes and alkalis, their effects on the eyes can be severe.
Precautions You Should Take If You Wear Contact Lenses
1. It is always preferred to take off your contact lenses before participating in Holi celebrations. If it is unavoidable, you can use disposable. After the festivities are over, wear a new set of lenses.
2. Don’t let any color (gulal) of Holi powder get in your eyes. If it gets into your eyes while playing with colours, wash them immediately. This will give relief from the irritation caused by the colours.
3. If you forgot to take off your lenses and there is even the slightest feeling that your eyes have ingested dangerous chemicals from the dyes, you should immediately throw them away and get new lenses.
4. Before playing Holi, you can consider applying cold cream or oil around your eyes, which will remove the color easily from the outer surface of the eyes.
5. Try wearing sunglasses while playing Holi. This will protect your eyes from both dry and colored water.
6. If you choose to wear your glasses, they will also provide a mechanical barrier, protecting your eyes from both the powdered color and the liquid.
7. If you feel burning or redness in the eyes, contact the doctor immediately. Don’t rub your eyes.
8. Do not self-medicate. Since not all eye drops are created equal, using the wrong eye drops can cause more damage to your eyes. However, in such a case it is more advisable to consult an ophthalmologist.
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