If you wear glasses, this can be tricky, since glasses are worn on your face and you typically handle them with your hands. But don’t worry; the information below will give you a polished understanding of how to keep your glasses and your eyes clean during this global pandemic.

How Do You Keep Bacteria From Getting in Your Eyes?

In order to keep bacteria from getting into and affecting your eyes, you must keep your hands clean by washing them frequently. Hands and fingers carry more bacteria than any other place on the body, which is why touching your face is such a threat. If you must touch your eyes for any reason, it’s critical that your hands are thoroughly washed first.

Bacterial and viral eye infections can also be prevented by keeping your distance from individuals who are showing signs of an eye infection. Maintaining a safe distance from friends and family who are ill can help lower the number of infectious germs that are spread.

Pink eye (conjunctivitis) and other bacterial infections are the most common to affect your eyes. Treatment for conjunctivitis depends on what kind you have, such as bacterial or allergic. Prescription ointments, eye drops, and allergy medications are often prescribed and are typically very effective in clearing symptoms quickly.

It’s also possible to get a viral strain of conjunctivitis. While antiviral or steroid eye drops may be needed in severe cases, viral eye infections normally resolve on their own.

Preventing infection is almost always more effective than treating it, so washing your hands is of the utmost importance. Ensuring your hands and fingers are clean is the best way to keep from spreading germs.

How to Properly Wash Your Hands Before Handling Eyeglasses

Washing your hands every time you do something as routine as handling your glasses can seem tedious.

But think about how many times you touch your glasses throughout the day: to push your glasses up when they slide down your face, to take your glasses off to clean the lenses or to remove your reading glasses when not in use. Whether you are a glasses wearer or not, hand-washing is essential when practicing diligent personal hygiene.

There is no “incorrect” method to washing your hands, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend these steps for the most effective hand-washing:

1. Turn water on at a conservative pressure — enough to rinse your hands, but not enough to waste.
2. Apply soap to hands and rub them together, creating a lather. Don’t forget between your fingers, under your nails and the backs of your hands.
3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need help keeping time? Try singing the 20-second chorus from one of these well-known songs while washing your hands.
   – “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi
   – “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees
   – “Jolene” by Dolly Parton
   – “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac
   – “Happy Birthday” (twice)
4. Thoroughly rinse your hands with clean water.
5. Use a clean towel to dry your hands and turn off the tap using a towel or your elbow.

How Do I Clean and Disinfect My Glasses?

If your glasses become contaminated or dirty (which can happen from a variety of sources) having clean hands won’t be much help against an eye infection. Cleaning your glasses regularly is a great way to maintain best hygiene practices and preventing any bacteria from getting near your eyes.

Cleaning Your Glasses

Once your hands have been washed, take your glasses off and run them under a low-pressure stream of lukewarm water. This will remove any debris or dust that has collected on the lenses and frames.

Apply a small drop of dish soap to each lens. The soap should be free of any lotions to avoid leaving streaks. Gently massage the soap on both sides of the lenses and the entire frames, reaching all the nooks and crannies.

After sudsing your glasses for a minute or so, rinse them under the water. Examine the hinges and lip where the lenses meet the frames to make sure no soap residue is left. Remove excess water by gently shaking your glasses then dry them off with a clean, lint-free towel.

In this time of social distancing, self-isolation and, for some, quarantine, using the recommendations above will leave your eyes — and your overall health — in tip-top shape.

At the government’s request, people are spending a lot more time indoors, which inevitably means our eyes will be glued to phones, computers, and TVs. Over time, this fixation can affect our mental and physical health, not to mention the well-being of our eyes.

Practicing some “eye hacks” to relieve stress can keep your eyes more comfortable while you’re cooped up at home. Here are a few of our favorites!

Don’t Overwork Your Eyes

It’s tough out there for eyeballs right now. An increase in screen time plus a decrease in natural light equals extra strain on eyes, no matter your age.

Digital Eye Strain, also referred to as Computer Vision Syndrome, is caused by excess time spent in front of a screen. Although symptoms are only temporary, they can be uncomfortable, inconvenient and even painful.

Taking steps to prevent Digital Eye Strain before it hits could significantly lessen the dry eyes, blurry vision and headaches that are commonly associated with the condition.

The 20-20-20 rule is a tactic that is widely used to avoid Digital Eye Strain symptoms. Its popularity stems from its simplicity:

Every 20 minutes, look up from your screen and focus on an item approximately 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.

Focusing on an item in the distance allows the muscles in the eye to relax after being subjected to prolonged screen time.

Kids can experience eye strain too, so establishing the 20-20-20 rule for them during video game play or tablet use can help prepare them for a lifetime of screen use.

In addition to 20-second breaks, taking longer periods of time away from screens is great for resting your mind and your eyes. If you’ve been in front of a screen for a while, step away to read a book or work on a jigsaw puzzle. You’d be amazed at how much of a difference five or 10 minutes can make.

Try Out Different Glasses

Computer glasses, also called blue light glasses, have become a popular method for filtering blue light*.

The glasses target and filter high-energy visible (HEV) light, which is projected by nearly all digital screens. Blue-light-filtering lenses have a slightly yellow tint that counters blue light and curtails the discomfort and potential damage it can cause your eyes.

Not only that, but filtering blue light at nighttime can help regulate or improve your sleep cycles since the brain often interprets screen light as sunlight.

Many phones and computers have a setting that warms the display, further helping you achieve a good night’s rest. Learn more about the benefits of computer glasses.

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Consider Your Eyes When Grocery Shopping

For many, the idea of stores being wiped out of common groceries can feel strange, inconvenient, and even scary. Being able to purchase all the items on your grocery list has now become a challenge, as supermarkets across the world are experiencing temporary shortages in everyday items.

But this doesn’t mean a healthy diet should be put on the back burner. What you eat contributes heavily to your eye health and many other aspects of your overall physical health.

So don’t fret when you see carrots are out of stock; there are other eye-friendly grocery items that will get the job done.

Carrots rich in vitamin A are the poster children for eye-healthy foods, and for good reason. But if carrots aren’t available, butternut squash, red bell peppers, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and spinach are also chock-full of this vision-booster.

Zinc allows your body to absorb more vitamin A, making them the perfect pair. Zinc also kicks up your immune system’s efficiency, which comes in handy during a global pandemic. Look for meat, shellfish, beans, and nuts to increase your zinc intake.

It’s easy to turn to comfort food like potatoes and macaroni and cheese during times like these, and that’s OK. Just be sure to also incorporate some of these foods to give your eyes a little TLC:

• Antioxidant-rich foods: Artichokes, blueberries and dark chocolate with high cacao (or cocoa) content.
• Omega-3-rich foods: Focus on food with EPA and DHA, like salmon, mackerel, herring, and tuna. Vegetarians can benefit from flax seeds or flaxseed oil, but these lack the EPA and DHA of fish.
• Vitamin E-rich foods: Spinach, nuts (especially almonds and hazelnuts) and whole-grain cereal.

Our Eyes’ Relation to COVID-19

It’s been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that the coronavirus can be transmitted through the eyes. This explains why so many images show health care professionals wearing protective goggles or face shields along with their facemasks.

Although eye transmission is not the most common culprit for spreading the disease (respiratory droplet inhalation and close person-to-person contact are the top methods), the importance of keeping your hands away from your face cannot be understated. This is especially important in regard to your eyes, nose, and mouth.

So if you typically wear glasses, you may unknowingly be arming yourself with an added shield of defense!

The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) explains that a pair of glasses may guard your eyes from respiratory droplets. While eyeglasses and sunglasses don’t offer the same level of protection as a pair of goggles, the large surface area of the lens can block the virus from reaching your eyes.

With this in mind, it’s crucial for eyeglasses to be cleaned often. Those who wear glasses will frequently handle their frames, which increases the risk of transferring germs on your hands to the glasses that rest on your face.

The AAO also suggests that those who normally wear contact lenses should switch to glasses for the time being. Contact-wearers typically touch their eyes more often because of the increased irritation of contacts.

There’s evidence that conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, can be a less common sign of COVID-19. Symptoms associated with conjunctivitis are redness, itchiness, discharge, irritation, and crustiness of the eyes. A study of COVID-19 patients in China reported that nine out of 1,099 patients (0.8%) had pink eye as a symptom.

Stay Healthy, Vigilant, And Positive

Understandably, being stuck at home by yourself can feel frustrating. However, social distancing and self-isolation are the best and most effective methods to limit the spread of illness.

Use this time of solitude to check in with yourself, assess your well-being, and practice good habits, especially dealing with your health. Being mindful of your eyes in today’s screen-heavy culture can contribute to vision comfort now and in the future.

Start practicing healthy habits now — it’s possible they’ll stick around even after the days of isolation are over.

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