Eye care

Many people have eyesight conditions which require corrective glasses, such as eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Understand

Optometric services can be difficult to obtain in remote places.

Corrective glasses

Travellers with daily need of corrective glasses could need to carry a spare pair or perhaps, if it will be cheaper there, buy another pair at the destination. Travellers should bring a copy of their prescription with them for emergency replacements.

For sports and other activities, especially snorkelling and scuba diving, contact lenses might be more practical than glasses.

Sunglasses

See also: Sunburn and sun protection

Sunglasses are a classic among tourist accessories, especially to tropical, maritime and snow resorts, to prevent ultraviolet keratitis (snowblindness).

Sunglasses come at very different price levels, with the simplest models sold at corner shops for a token cost. Polarizing sunglasses filter reflections, which is especially useful on snow and at sea.

As sunglasses are easily lost or damaged, think twice before packing an expensive designer model. Regardless, check that the glasses really protect your eyes. If they are better at filtering visible light than at filtering UV radiation, they will increase the risk of keratitis rather than help.

Transition glasses (glasses that transform into sunglasses in sunlight) may come in handy for those who need glasses also indoors – these can prevent the hassle of having to carry both normal glasses and sunglasses, but can get a bit expensive for prescription glasses at some locations (some can start at AU$200). There are also sunglasses that connect to your normal glasses, or you could use contact lenses and sunglasses.

Excessive wearing of sunglasses (indoors or in cloudy weather) could be regarded as bad manners, and a giveaway for being a careless tourist.

In some countries, pirated copies of designer sunglasses are widely sold to travellers and others. Pirated goods might cause trouble at customs checks. If you want a pair of cheap sunglasses, buy a generic model instead of a fake label.

Eye care tourism

Eyeglasses can be cheaper in a foreign country, especially in low-income countries where labour costs are lower. Consider getting an eye exam at home, especially if insurance covers it, and bringing the prescription along to be filed elsewhere. High-end brand-name frames available in such areas may have two problems: some may be knock-offs (and cause trouble at the border), and the real imported ones may be more expensive than at home.

Eye surgery – in particular common procedures like cataract surgery or laser eye surgery – may also be cheaper; see medical tourism.

Stay safe

Substandard sunglasses may not filter UV radiation effectively, but instead lure you into opening your pupils wider, causing more damage than without sunglasses.

Always use your spectacle case. In addition to it guarding your glasses, it prevents the glasses from acting as a magnifying glass, causing a fire.

Solar eclipse viewing

See also: Solar eclipses

When going to watch a solar eclipse, you must wear special kinds of glasses because the brightness of the sun, when you look directly at it, can cause blindness.