Safety glasses protect your eyes from imminent danger, but if you don’t perceive the dangers as real threats, you’re probably not wearing them.
At Stoggles, we don’t just make amazing safety glasses; we wear them, too. Let’s talk about the real dangers your eyes are exposed to and how you can protect your eyes from damage by donning a pair of the world’s most comfortable (and, we’d argue, iconic) safety glasses.
Your Eyes at a Glance
Your eyes are complex, and unlike other really important parts of your body, they’re left virtually unprotected. While your brain is encased in your skull and your heart behind your ribcage, your eyes are protected by a thin membrane, flaps of skin that open and close, and a few hairs (eyelashes).
The anatomy of the eye enables us to see, but it also leaves us vulnerable to eye irritation and injury. Also, the eye is one of those things in the human that, if damaged, can’t be replaced. The importance of that cannot be stressed enough.
Cornea
The cornea is the dome-shaped cover that protects your eyes. Behind your lids, lashes, and conjunctiva, it is the first line of defense that keeps your eyes protected against external stressors. Because the cornea is on the outside of your eye, it’s common for it to become irritated or even infected.
The conjunctiva, the paper-thin covering over the cornea, often becomes irritated, resulting in conjunctivitis.
Iris and Lens
The iris and lens are the parts of your eye that collect light. They capture light and focus it directly onto the retina in the back of your eye.
Retina
The retina is where vision happens. The retina is home to retinal cells and the macula, which is a structure in your eye responsible for detailed vision.
When the retina receives light from the lens and iris, the retinal cells transmit the data to the brain via the optic nerve. The brain then interprets what we see, resulting in our vision.
Retinal Cells
An interesting fact about retinal cells is they don’t regenerate. That means if they’re damaged, a portion (or even all) of your vision can be lost. Because retinal cells are limited, it’s important to protect them as much as possible, even if you think you aren’t at risk of damaging them.
How Common Are Eye Injuries?
No one wakes up with an eye injury on the agenda, but the fact is they’re really common. With over 2.5 million eye injuries occurring worldwide, 50,000 of these result in partial or permanent vision loss. There’s a risk to your eyes when performing even common household tasks.
- Two thousand eye-related injuries per day happen on the job, with about one-third of those injuries resulting in hospital visits and over 100 causing time off from work.
- Nearly half of all eye injuries happen at home.
- 40% of eye injuries happen as the result of involvement in sports or recreational activities.
These are some seriously sobering statistics, but the good news is that 90% of all eye injuries are completely preventable with protective eyewear. Eye injuries aren’t a matter of “if” but more of a matter of “when.”
If you aren’t wearing safety eyewear, it’s time to start.
10 (Not So Common) Reasons Why You Should Be Wearing Safety Glasses
If the statistics don’t convince you that your eyes need protection, these ten reasons will.
1. Eye Sensitivity
Ever feel like your eyes are tired, weak, strained, fatigued, itchy, watery, or just plain uncomfortable? You probably deal with eye sensitivity. If you sit behind a computer (or scroll endlessly on social media), blue light sensitivity can make your eyes uncomfortable and even result in headaches.
Eye sensitivity can be reduced simply by wearing glasses that block out blue light. Most users notice a significant reduction in the level of eye sensitivity they experience after protecting their eyes with blue-light-blocking safety glasses.
2. Allergies
If you’ve got them, you know how difficult it can be to deal with allergies, especially if they affect your vision. Itching, watering, burning, and the occasional development of infections can make it hard to see.
Safety glasses create a unique barrier between your eyes and the outside world by offering both side and top shields. These shields prevent pollen, pollution, and other external irritants from making their way into your eyes.
Safety glasses are unique in helping you avoid both seasonal and perennial allergies.
- Seasonal allergies: These types of allergens usually refer to plants that bloom in season, producing pollen that can irritate your eyes.
- Perennial allergies: Perennial allergens refer to allergies that can affect your eyes year-round, like pet dander or cigarette smoke.
Wearing safety glasses when you know you’ll be exposed to allergens can dramatically reduce your discomfort and help you see more clearly.
3. UV Exposure
The sun’s ultraviolet rays are damaging not just to your skin but also to your eyes. UV damage can cause the cornea to burn, resulting in a condition called photokeratitis. Light reflected off of surfaces like water and snow can also damage your eyes.
Wearing safety glasses with UV-blocking lenses protects your eyes when you’re exposed to ultraviolet rays. Just a side note: the darkness or shading of your glasses doesn’t necessarily correlate to their UV protection.
Stoggles, for instance, are crystal clear but made from polycarbonate, a material that is naturally UV-blocking. Do you need protection from UV light on cloudy days? Yes. Which is why that crystal clear material is a win. UVA rays penetrate through glass, so protecting your eyes while you’re indoors working by windows or in a plane or car is also important.
Stoggles Dimmers™ come with light-responsive lenses that really help cut down the bright sunlight and the material protects from harmful UV rays. It’s a bright solution to a way-too-bright problem.
4. Strike Risk
If you’ve ever made a mistake during a home improvement project or watched your lawnmower skip a rock across your yard at lightning speed, you’re fully acquainted with the risk to your vision, whether you realize it or not.
Anytime you’re involved in an activity that results in fragments, shards, or particles, there’s a potential for those materials to strike your eye. Even the most mundane activities can result in eye injury.
Safety glasses protect your eyes from strikes and impact. Unlike your regular glasses or sunglasses, safety glasses have been tested to ensure they don’t shatter or break on contact.
All Stoggles safety eyewear are ANSI Z87.1-2020 certified, the industry standard for impact resistance and shatter-proof safety.
5. Hobbies
Whether you’re golfing, biking, or playing racquetball, there is a chance of eye injury. Nothing can take you out of the game quicker than sustaining an injury, and if that injury is related to your vision, the damage could be permanent.
No one wants to wear personal protective equipment that isn’t comfortable or interferes with your ability to play properly. That’s why Stoggles are lightweight, streamlined, and supremely wearable no matter what activity you’re participating in.
You don’t want to show up for a Saturday bike ride with your besties looking like you might have brought your favorite power tool along — and that’s the vibe we get with traditional safety glasses. But Stoggles are so fashionable, low-profile, and comfortable that you’ll look cool and be safe while mountain biking and getting brunch after.
6. Cooking
You read that right. The kitchen is riskier than you might think. OSHA might not be monitoring you while you make dinner, but that doesn’t mean their general workplace safety tips aren’t fire.
Boiling water, oil splatters, and even cutting onions can pose a risk to your eyes. Even if you wear your eye protection only while chopping your sweet Vidalias onions, you’ll save yourself a lot of tears and tissues. If you accidentally splash hot grease in your eyes, you could literally blind yourself or cause a retinal burn that takes weeks to heal and requires medical treatment.
Play it safe, wear eye protection when you’re in the kitchen, and to look good doing it, Stoggles is, of course, your go-to solution.
7. At Work
Even if your employer doesn’t require you to wear proper eye protection, there could be potential hazards in your work environment. Workplace eye injuries are common, and you might not be aware of all the risks to your eye health.
Sitting at a computer all day can expose you to blue light, and your regular eyeglasses probably don’t protect you from it. In addition, there are other work environments that might not seem like they pose a threat to your eyes when they do. Ask any preschool teacher if they’ve ever been jabbed in the eye with a crayon or taken a rogue toy to the temple, and they’ll probably say yes.
Safety eyewear protects you from these hazards, and with the types of eye protection offered by Stoggles, you can retain your style and protect your eyes at the same time.
8. Gardening
Gardening requires arduous work, complete with weed-pulling, exposure to heat and sun, and potentially threatening foliage. Safety specs are essential for ensuring your eyes are safe while you tame your tiger lilies and prune your boxwoods.
9. Cleaning
When you think of chemical splash, you think of scientists feverishly mixing beakers of fluids together in a lab. When we think of chemical splash, we picture the everyday person cleaning their shower with a mold-eating chemical that could seriously damage their eyes.
Household cleaning products can splash and splatter in your eyes when you’re cleaning, and protecting yourself is as easy as popping on your at-home PPE. Don’t have at-home PPE? Stoggles can help. Not just any old pair of safety glasses will do.
Our Stoggles have top and side shields to protect your eyes on every front so that bleach-water isn’t going anywhere near your eyes.
10. Because Your Regular Eyewear Doesn’t Protect Your Eyes
If you wear prescription eyewear, you might rely on them to keep your eyes safe, but that’s a mistake. Prescription lenses aren’t created to withstand high impact and usually don’t have the safety features you need. Don’t worry: You don’t have to wear safety glasses over your corrective lenses. If you need prescription safety glasses, you should have them.
Stoggles make it easy. Simply upload your script to our website, and we’ll take care of the rest, sending you a custom-made pair of Stoggles that helps correct your vision too. Oh, and did we mention that Stoggles are shatter-proof and ANSI Z87 certified, ensuring your Rx lenses can withstand high impact? You don’t break under pressure, and your eyewear shouldn’t either!
Not Just Any Safety Glasses: Get Stoggles
You know the risks and the reasons why, but let’s face it. Historically, safety glasses haven’t held the spotlight for the height of fashionable accessories. Lucky for you, times have changed. Stoggles exist to bring together style and safety because if you don’t feel great in your safety glasses, you probably aren’t going to wear them.
In the past, taking care of our eyes has been about as exciting as watching paint dry. It just hasn't been at the forefront of our minds, and let's face it, the solutions available have been about as fashionable as a pair of Crocs.
That's where Stoggles comes in. We're on a mission to bridge the gap between style and protection.
We believe that eyewear should be protective by design, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your sense of style. We're here to make eye protection feel normal and natural, like slipping on your favorite pair of shades. So, whether you're hammering nails or simply walking down the street, we want you to feel confident and protected, without compromising on style. Makes sense, right?
Available in tons of different frame shapes, two different frame sizes, and numerous color options, Stoggles gives you the ability to protect your eyes and your stylistic reputation. You never need to feel like a middle school biology student when protecting your eyes.
The risk to your eyes is real, and it’s important to protect your vision. Stoggles give you the safety you need with the wearability you love.
Sources:
Anatomy of the Eye | Johns Hopkins Medicine
Emergency Department Visits Related to Eye Injuries, 2008 | HCUP
Eye Injury Prevention | American Academy of Ophthalmology
1910.133 - Eye and face protection. | Occupational Safety and Health Administration
A Surprising Danger in Planes, Trains and Automobiles | Skin Cancer Foundation