Vision is one of the senses highly sensitive and prone to wear and tear out our five senses. There are an estimated 12 million people alone in the United States with weak vision and blindness. If you are reading this post after meeting one of them on the roads, you must have understood they cannot see like you by the stick in their hands and a black pair of glasses on their eyes. Some of us are curious to know more and give you are one of them, reading this post may be a good way to start understanding these blind people who need your understanding and empathy more than your support and mercy.
Stylizing our eyes is a quality most people love, even those who are blind. But not all have the help they would need to decorate their eyes with the right colour and lines. Often such people compensate for their lack of vision by wearing a pair of black glasses that apart from distinguishing them in the crowd will also add a bit to their style quotient. But, did you know that these black patches of earlier times and the black glasses of present times are worn mostly to minimize a lot of issues and factors that blind eyes are more prone to face daily?
Five best reasons why blind people prefer wearing black glasses
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Prevent entry of dust and germs
Most blind people blink but since they can’t see when a lofty breeze is aboard or a storm, the chances that their eyes will catch the dust faster is high on the possible scale. Similarly, germs run rampant on the outside. Due to their poor vision, if they do not see well, there is a chance that they will touch a dirty surface and soon after, their eyes. This way they might land into trouble as eye infections are the last on their list that they might feel like contracting. Preventing all of it is possible if they have a closed frame of dark glass on their eyes.
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Protection from photokeratitis
Photokeratitis is an inflammation of the cornea and leads to inflammation, redness and pain. It also leads to blurry vision and decreases visual acuity and clarity. Thus, prevention of such inflammatory conditions is easily possible by using sunglasses. It is extremely painful when it occurs in many, thus, prevention is the best cure for photokeratitis. When you stop the dust and germs from entering your eyes, you can stop a lot of eye problems instantly.
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Porokeratosis is preventable
Porokeratosis is a condition that damages your eyes if they are exposed to UV rays for a prolonged period. There are 6 types of porokeratosis out of which the most common one is DCAP (Disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis).
Porokeratosis can lead to ophthalmic malignancy and is thus best avoided. If a simple pair of black glasses can prevent the condition from occurring, why not use them for your benefit?
Even basal cell carcinoma is an oncological variant that impacts the eyelids. Most often, it is observed that such conditions are caused by increased UV exposure. You must know that UV rays cannot be stopped from entering the earth’s atmosphere even on a cloudy day. Clouds can only stop visible light from touching us but not UV rays.
Wearing a pair of dark sunglasses can minimize a lot for a person who struggles to keep count of the shapes and sizes of objects.
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Protection from UV radiation
UV radiations are one of the major causes that will lead to many unpredictable troubles. If you want to protect yourself from UV radiations, you can try black sunglasses on yourself to ensure filtration of 75%-80% of the sun’s light, blocking UV-A and UV-B radiations, and also stopping the reflected light from entering the eyes.
Even those blind people who are not entirely blind can see a lot better in the dim. Thus preventing reflected light from entering the eyes can be a good way of making their vision capabilities better.
On a bright sunny day, the protective mechanism of our eyes is on but on a cloudy day that is not the case. We do not use the squinting reflexes within our eyes nor do we make them smaller to prevent less light from entering the eyes.
UV radiation
Even a fresh snowfall can reflect almost 90% of the UV radiation thus, there is a high chance that UV exposure will not lessen unless blocked effectively from entering our eyes. For those who are already blind even if it is on a scale of 20/200, yet, there is a high chance that UV light will cause maximum damage.
It does not always help with these issues but there are many other conditions which can be helped by wearing sunglasses in individuals with decreased vision. If your family or friends has someone who needs this information, do not forget to pass it on. Newly declared blind people need all the care and love in the world that you can provide them with, only when you understand their condition.
radiation
Usually, many people find it difficult to stand in front of such people. Most often, if blindness is accompanied by sleepy eyes, many do not like standing tall with blind men. Thus, blind men cover their eyes with black glasses and that way prevent people from getting uncomfortable around them.
Apart from these, cataract is another condition that leads to reduced vision or blindness and is triggered by UV ray exposure. If there are people around who have a mature cataract in their eyes, do not forget to talk to them about it. If they do not have anybody do find help for them as there are many hospitals and care homes that can benefit such people from going blind. Even if they wear black sunglasses and protection from blind eyes is the only possible cure.
radiation
Most often keeping the eyes clean after coming back from outside with a soft cloth and lukewarm water is essential to keep the eyes healthy in those who manage to live with blindness. Regularly moisturizing your eyes can also do wonders for weak eyes.
Visual acuity of your vision when is as low as 20/200, your ophthalmologist might declare you clinically blind. It means that your eyes cannot see something unless you are as close as 20 feet which normal eyes can see from 200 feet away. Every person who is declared clinically blind has to take some measures to protect their eyes to take good care of them. That is how they can save themselves from further deterioration of their eyes.
Many times in the crowd, we come across blind people wearing sunglasses. Not just that these sunglasses add to their aesthetic sense apart from declaring others of their condition but there are other reasons why a blind might wear sunglasses.
An estimated 12 million people over 40 years are blind around the United States alone and not everyone’s blindness is just the same. Below 40, blind conditions are also quite frequent and almost 6.8% of children less than 18 years have vision issues in the US alone. A chunk of them might have gone blind for a reason very different from other chunks of blind people.
But whatever the reasons are, a few common precautions can save a lot for the blind. Here are a few common reasons cited by blind people as reasons for wearing sunglasses in the crowd.
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Unwanted injuries can be prevented
Due to their inability to see clearly, there can be scenarios where they cannot protect themselves from unwanted injuries. Thus, if there is a pair of unbreakable sunglasses on their eyes, they can protect their eyes from minor scratches and bruises that even though not severe can damage their eyes more.
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Reducing photophobic occurrences
Individuals can face recurrent migraine attacks when they are exposed to light for a long. Sensitivity to light can cause migraine and wearing a pair of sunglasses can definitely rid blind people of such unnecessary situations.
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Aesthetic reasons
Blind eyes might also be sleeping eyes and some people feel uncomfortable when talking to such blind people. Thus, by wearing sunglasses they prevent others from feeling uncomfortable in their presence.
For all these reasons and more, sunglasses seem to be an inevitable choice for blind people. If any blind people around you do not wear sunglasses, make them aware and intimate them of their importance. Some of these reasons also occur in normal eyes and if normal vision individuals want to protect themselves, they too can start using sunglasses.
- They filter out 75%-80% of the sun’s light.
- Pair of sunglasses form a block for UV-A and UV-B radiations.
- Additional frames that block the UV light might also help better.
- The reflected light from the sun does not enter their eyes, so those blind men who still see can do so better with the sunglasses on.
Protection from particles, dust and injury
Along with protection from bright light, sunglasses can also provide a barrier to protect a blind person’s eyes from foreign objects.
People with visual impairments are at a higher risk of getting foreign objects in their eyes. Things like open cupboard doors or tree branches could be painful to unexpectedly walk into.
Blind people
it also feels as much pain as a seeing person if their eyes are scratched or injured.
Air particles like dust or pollen can cause eye irritation. Wearing sunglasses can help act as a protective barrier to reduce the amount of these particles that get into a blind person’s eyes.