Summer is brilliant for the soul but surprisingly hard on your eyes. Between long days in the sun, chlorinated pools, late nights, increased screen time and the dehydrating effects of heat and alcohol, your eyes can take a significant battering over the holiday months. As August draws to a close and the return to normal routines approaches, it's worth taking stock of the toll summer has taken and giving your eyes the recovery they deserve.
Here's what summer does to your eyes, how to tell if yours are suffering, and the practical steps to get them back in good shape before autumn arrives.
What Summer Does to Your Eyes
UV Damage
Every unprotected hour in the sun adds to your lifetime accumulation of UV exposure. A summer of beach days, outdoor activities and holidays abroad — particularly in sunnier climates where UV levels are significantly higher than in the UK and Ireland — represents a meaningful dose of ultraviolet radiation to your eyes.
Over time, cumulative UV exposure is associated with cataracts, pterygium (a growth on the surface of the eye) and may contribute to age-related macular degeneration. The challenge is that UV damage is cumulative and painless, making it easy to underestimate the importance of protecting your eyes with high-quality sunglasses offering 100% UVA and UVB protection.
Chlorine and Sea Water
Swimming pools and the sea are two of summer's great pleasures, but both can be hard on your eyes. Chlorine disrupts the eye's natural tear film, often leaving eyes feeling dry, irritated and red. Salt water is generally less irritating but can still disturb the ocular surface. Open water also contains naturally occurring microorganisms which can present a particular risk for contact lens wearers.
Dehydration
Hot weather, physical activity, travel and alcohol consumption all contribute to dehydration. As your tear film is approximately 98% water, even relatively mild dehydration can reduce tear quality and quantity. This often leaves eyes feeling gritty, tired and uncomfortable, particularly towards the end of the day.
Sleep Disruption
Late nights, travel across time zones and altered routines can reduce both the quantity and quality of sleep. Your eyes recover and repair while you sleep. Several weeks of disrupted sleep can result in redness, dryness, reduced focusing comfort and increased sensitivity to digital eye strain.
Increased Screen Time
Although summer is associated with being outdoors, many adults and children actually spend considerably more time on digital devices during school holidays and annual leave. Reduced blink rates during prolonged screen use allow the tear film to evaporate more quickly, increasing symptoms of dryness and fatigue.
Contact Lens Overuse
Summer often leads contact lens wearers to stretch recommended wearing times, fall asleep wearing lenses after late evenings or wear them while swimming. These behaviours significantly increase the risk of irritation and infection. Corneal infection (microbial keratitis) is a recognised complication of contact lens wear, with the risk increasing substantially when lenses are worn overnight or exposed to water. The risk of a corneal infection is greater through contact lens wear than LASIK — 4x greater per year of wear with daily lenses and 20x greater per year of wear with overnight (extended) wear lenses.
Signs Your Eyes Are Suffering
Look out for:
- Persistent dryness, grittiness or burning
- Redness that persists despite rest
- Eyes feeling tired by mid-afternoon
- Contact lenses becoming uncomfortable earlier in the day
- Fluctuating blurred vision
- Increased light sensitivity
- Headaches associated with prolonged reading or screen use
Most of these symptoms improve with simple measures. However, sudden loss of vision, significant pain, increasing redness or light sensitivity should always be assessed urgently by an eye care professional.
How to Help Your Eyes Recover
Rehydrate Properly
Return to consistent hydration by aiming for six to eight glasses of fluid each day, as recommended by the NHS. Improved hydration supports healthier tear production and many people notice an improvement in comfort within several days.
Use Lubricating Eye Drops
Preservative-free artificial tears can restore comfort while the tear film recovers. These may be used frequently throughout the day and are particularly beneficial for people spending prolonged periods on computers or in air-conditioned environments.
Restore Healthy Sleep
Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep each night with regular sleeping patterns. Good quality sleep is one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce redness, improve tear quality and restore comfortable vision.
Resume the 20-20-20 Rule
As work routines return, remember the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This helps relax the eye's focusing muscles and encourages more frequent blinking.
Give Contact Lenses a Break
If your eyes have been working hard over the summer, consider wearing your glasses for a few days. Allowing the cornea to recover without lenses often improves comfort considerably. Always replace lenses according to the recommended schedule and never sleep in lenses unless they have specifically been prescribed for overnight wear.
Eat for Healthy Vision
A diet rich in leafy green vegetables, oily fish, colourful fruit and vegetables and plenty of water supports long-term eye health through antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids and essential vitamins.
Continue Wearing Sunglasses
Although summer may be ending, UV exposure continues throughout autumn and winter. Quality sunglasses remain one of the simplest ways to protect your eyes throughout the year.
Is It Time to Consider Life Beyond Contact Lenses?
For many people, the end of summer is also a good opportunity to reflect on whether contact lenses still suit their lifestyle. Many contact lens wearers experience recurring dryness during holidays, irritation after long days outdoors, concerns about swimming, travelling with lens solutions or simply the inconvenience of daily lens care.
Modern laser vision correction, including LASIK, has transformed the lives of millions of people worldwide by reducing or eliminating dependence on contact lenses and glasses.
Published evidence demonstrates that the risk of developing a serious corneal infection is approximately four times higher after just one year of daily soft contact lens wear than from undergoing LASIK, while extended (overnight) contact lens wear carries around twenty times the annual risk compared with LASIK. This is because the greatest risk associated with LASIK occurs during the immediate healing period, whereas contact lens wear carries an ongoing cumulative risk every day lenses continue to be worn.
For suitable patients, laser vision correction therefore removes not only the daily inconvenience of contact lenses but also the continuing annual risk of contact lens-related microbial keratitis.
Naturally, LASIK is still a surgical procedure and, like all surgery, carries risks. Every patient should undergo a detailed suitability assessment and informed consent process before deciding whether treatment is appropriate. At Optical Express alone, more than one million patients have been advised not to proceed with surgery because it was not considered clinically suitable, reflecting the importance placed on patient selection and safety. Over two million procedures have been performed by Optical Express surgeons.
Imagine next summer without worrying about contact lens solutions, removing lenses before swimming, dry eyes during flights or accidentally sleeping in your lenses. For many suitable patients, that freedom becomes one of the greatest benefits of vision correction surgery.
The Perfect Time for a Comprehensive Eye Examination
The end of summer is one of the best times to book a comprehensive eye examination.
If it has been two years or more since your last examination — or sooner if advised by your optometrist — this is an excellent opportunity to ensure your eyes remain healthy as routines return.
A comprehensive examination assesses your vision, checks your prescription, evaluates the health of your eyes and screens for conditions such as glaucoma, cataract and age-related macular degeneration, many of which develop without symptoms in their early stages.
If you've experienced persistent discomfort during the summer or have become increasingly frustrated by contact lenses, this is also an ideal opportunity to discuss the full range of vision correction options available to you.
Your Eyes Will Thank You
Summer creates wonderful memories, but it can also leave your eyes feeling tired, dry and overworked.
Fortunately, most of these effects are temporary. Rehydrating, restoring healthy sleep, reducing unnecessary screen time, caring properly for contact lenses — or exploring whether you could safely leave them behind altogether — can make a remarkable difference.
At Optical Express, we care for patients throughout every stage of life — from childhood eye care through to advanced cataract surgery and premium vision correction. Having performed more than two million vision correction procedures and with more than 15,000 five-star Trustpilot reviews, our focus remains on delivering outstanding clinical outcomes through careful patient selection, advanced technology and exceptional standards of care.
Whether you need a routine eye examination, advice on managing dry eyes or would like to discover whether laser eye surgery could transform your vision, there's no better time than the end of summer to take the next step towards healthier eyes.
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