The wind. It’s a force, and on a hot day, there’s nothing better than a little breeze. Unfortunately, some days you don’t get the option of enjoying the outdoors in perfect, breezy bliss. Instead, you’re in a full-on, Helen Hunt in Twister type of scenario. Cows flying through the air? We wouldn’t be surprised.
That might be a little dramatic, but to your eyes, it’s a legitimate comparison. The eyes are arguably the most delicate parts of your body that are essentially completely exposed. Enough wind, dirt, and grit, and they’ll put up a massive argument in the form of irritation, excessive tearing, and itching.
The team at Stoggles knows that while you most likely won’t find yourself in a real-life Sharknado situation or Peter Pan flight training situation, you will encounter wind that makes you think, “Dang, air is being super mean today.” That’s why wind protection glasses are a must-have.
We’ll review how the eyes work, why wind does so much damage to them, and why wind protection glasses can be your port in the storm (literally or figuratively).
How Your Eyes Function
The eyes are gelatinous little football-shaped orbs that sit inside the delicate bones of the eye socket. In terms of protection, you’ve got those thin bones, your eyelashes and eyelids, and the sclera, a fibrous tissue that covers the eye and makes the whites look white.
Unlike the brain, which is housed in the cement of your skull, your eyes, to maintain their functionality, must be exposed in this manner.
The Process of Vision
We’ll keep this simple and then explain why it’s important. Vision works like this:
- The cornea collects light.
- The pupil and iris limit the light that is allowed inside the eye.
- The lens, which sits behind the pupil, helps focus the light entering the eye directly onto the retina.
- The retina sits at the back of the eye and is home to the macula, a structure responsible for fine, detailed vision.
- The retina magically transforms (read: too scientific and complicated for our immediate purposes) the light into electrical signals and sends them to the optic nerve.
- The optic nerve sends the signals to the brain, which interprets the light into what we see.
It goes without saying, this entire process happens in fractions of nanoseconds, and while that’s amazing, it’s also fragile.
How Vision Can Be Lost
The retina is home to specialized cells that change light into electrical signals and send them to the optic nerve. These cells are limited, and they don’t regenerate. What does that mean for your vision? It means that if those cells are damaged, you may lose some of your vision and never regain it.
Considering your eyes are very exposed and that your retinal cells are so important, it makes sense that protecting your eyes should be a no-brainer. Your eyes need protection because they have a lot of foes.
Wind Has Entered the Chat
If you’ve ever spent time jogging into the wind, cycling into the wind, or basically doing anything “into the wind,” you know the frustration. Not only is the wind counterproductive to your cause, but it can also chap your lips, burn your face, and wreak havoc on your eyes.
Not sold? Here are three fun wind facts that make wind protection glasses necessary:
1. Dust In The Wind
Kansas knew the deal. Dust in the wind is one of the main reasons why wind is so dangerous to your eyes. Whether you’re outdoors taking care of your lawn, cycling, or taking care of a home improvement project, the potential for dirt and debris to enter your field of vision is real.
Dust is one of the biggest offenders in terms of corneal abrasions, a kind of burn or scrape on the cornea. Symptoms include the feeling of a scraped knee but on your eyeball, including:
- Burning
- Itching
- Feeling like you have grit or sand in your eyes
- Blurry vision
- Light sensitivity
- Excessive tearing
It can take days to a few weeks for a corneal abrasion to fully heal. In the meantime, you’ll wish you’d have just worn safety glasses.
2. Allergens
Allergens aren’t just for stuffy noses and coughing. They also enjoy infiltrating your eyes and causing conjunctivitis, better known as pink eye.
That fun, gunky eye condition you had as a kid? You can 100% get it as an adult, and it’s still every bit as funky as you remember. As an adult, you’re more likely to catch conjunctivitis from seasonal or perennial allergens than you are from touching another individual's eyeball and then your own (crazy kids).
Seasonal allergies get carried on the wind and have the opportunity to mess with your eyes every time you leave your home.
3. Eye Dryness
Everyone gets dry eyes from time to time, but the real issue with wind-related eye dryness is that the wind can prevent your conjunctiva (the thin, protective cover that sits over the entire eyeball) from staying hydrated.
Wind wicks away tears as soon as they are produced, which may initially lead to excessive tearing, but which, over time, will lead to eye dryness. This can last for days and cause serious irritation that makes your eyes feel as though they’re rolling around in dry sockets.
If you rub your eyes while they are dry, you could risk a corneal abrasion, especially if the wind has lodged any special, dusty visitors in your eyes.
The wind is harsh, and protecting your eyes every time you’re in a windy environment is the best way to prevent an eye injury or irritation.
Wind Protection Glasses That Don’t Blow
We get it. Most eye protection is bulky, heavy, and aesthetically appalling. Before you decide to throw caution to the wind, consider Stoggles, the essential eyewear that is made for combating virtually every eye enemy in your line of vision.
Stoggles are protective against strikes, scrapes, intrusive, damaging light, wind, and even bodily fluid. Here’s what makes every pair of Stoggles special.
Shatter Resistant
Protective eyewear shouldn’t break or shatter. If it does, it’s not very protective. The gold standard for shatter resistance is the ANSI Z87.1-2020 certification. ANSI, or the American National Standards Institute, spent a lot of time and energy making sure that glasses that have their seal of approval won’t leave you with shards of broken eyewear on your face.
There are two tests that eyewear undergoes to get the coveted ANSI seal:
- High velocity impact test. This test fires a steel ball-bearing directly at the lens of a pair of safety glasses (don’t worry, they’re attached to a headform, not a human) at a high speed.
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High mass impact test.
To pass the test, the glasses can’t shatter or break. When they pass, they get to carry the ANSI seal, which will be inscribed on the eyewear, usually on the inside of the arms (the part that goes from the lens to your ear).
Side and Top Shields
Because the wind doesn’t always blow from one direction, and because you aren’t always located in the same position, you need safety eyewear that can block the wind in a multidimensional way. That is to say; you need protection on the tops and sides of your glasses.
Regular sunglasses or eyeglasses leave gaps at the top of your lenses near the eyebrow, and across the temples. Those areas are prime targets for wind intrusion.
Some protective eyewear designed to protect you from the wind features a wraparound design. We clock that at a 0/10 recommend, especially if you wear prescription lenses. The wraparound construction of these glasses can warp a prescription and can even make it hard to see out of certain safety eyewear materials. The result is a kind of funhouse mirror effect that is anything but safe… or fun.
Instead, opt for side and top shields. These are streamlined pieces that are molded to the tops and sides of your eyewear to prevent dust, wind, spills, and splatters from entering and harming the eye. All the protection, none of the funny business.
UV Protection
Another eye villain you’ll encounter when you’re outdoors? The sun. The sun can cause your eyes to age faster than they normally would, similar to your skin. Protect your eyes with UV-blocking lenses.
Like your mom said, you need sunscreen even when it’s cloudy; you need UV-blocking lenses even when it’s shady, too. That’s why all Stoggles are created with crystal clear, zero-shade, polycarbonate material, which is naturally UV blocking without a dark coating.
Blue-Light Blocking
While we’re on the subject of harmful light, let’s talk about your favorite devices. Whether you’re jogging in the wind or at an outdoor concert three sheets to the wind, you’ve probably got your smartphone nearby.
The blue light emitted from your smartphone and from devices like tablets and LED televisions can cause eye strain, eye fatigue, and may even play a role in the early onset of macular degeneration.
Don’t chance it. Opt for eyewear with blue-light blocking technology. Every pair of Stoggles comes standard with blue light blocking material injected right along with the lenses as they are created.
Anti-Fog Coating
The wind is annoying, but fog is even worse. Fogging glasses present a safety threat to your eyes and make it impossible for you to keep your glasses strapped to your face. This makes it impossible for your hard-working glasses to do their job and keep your eyes safe. Horror movie directors had a good point — fog is spooky (although not for the reasons they said).
Removing your glasses to wipe away fog presents a safety risk to your eyes. Anti-fog wipes may work for a short-term fix, but we opt for glasses with a built-in anti-fog coating for a permanent solution.
If you’re guessing that Stoggles come preloaded with this safety feature, you’re absolutely correct. You’ll never have to remove Stoggles to wipe down fog because every pair is fog resistant, thanks to a unique dip coating technique. We found the “spray” anti-fog treatment to be thin and weak, much like the first person to separate from a group in a horror movie.
Stoggles: A Win for the Wind
In addition to the safety features that help keep your eyes safe from the wind, Stoggles keep your style in check, too. With several different lens shapes to choose from and numerous color options, it’s easy to customize your safety and style depending on the day or even your mood.
Need a prescription? We do that too. We handle all your prescriptions in-house to save you time and money.
The next time the forecast calls for wind, batten down the hatches with safety eyewear that will keep your eyes. Stoggles is the solution for safety eyewear that’s so stylish, you’ll probably end up wearing our glasses more often than you don’t.
Sources:
How the Eyes Work | National Eye Institute
Allergic conjunctivitis Information | Mount Sinai - New York
Corneal abrasion (scratch): First aid | Mayo Clinic
ANSI/ISEA Z87.1-2020: Current Standard for Safety Glasses | ANSI
