Tanning Goggles - when you think of eyewear for tanning, do you conjure up the dreadful result of person stepping out of their indoor tanning bed with a horrendous set of white outlined raccoon eyes?

UV Light from Tanning Beds

Tanning salons generally offer an array of of clam-shaped tanning beds (or stand-up tanning booths) to choose from. You lie down on the acrylic surface which allows the ultraviolet light passes through. The ultraviolet tanning bulbs used in tanning beds generate the same ultraviolet rays that the sun does.

Most tanning beds emit a combination of both UVA and UVB, the ratios of UVA to UVB vary, depending on the type of tanning bulbs in the sun bed. Exposure of the eyes to one or both types of UV rays in a tanning bed can result in severe burns and damage to the eye.

Independent research has concluded that short-term exposure to UV rays from tanning beds can be damaging to the eye since levels of radiation while in a sun bed can be far greater than the radiation levels we experience when out in the sun.

Sun Tanning Goggles Protect Your Eyes

To protect your eyesight during your next visit to a tanning salon, follow this indoor tanning tip, get yourself a pair of FDA certified tan goggles for indoor tanning. Mind you, the FDA doesn’t certify the goggles, themselves, but the manufacturer certifies that they are in compliance with the laws set forth about eye protection for tanning beds.

It is crucial that you follow these FDA mandated safety rules.  Most tanning salons will provide eye protection while using their facilities; though each method differs. Some tanning salons provide goggles with highly tinted viewing holes that strap on, while others will provide a disposable aluminum tanning goggle for each eye. There are so many reasons to wear eye protection in the tanning bed. The use of eye protection while in a tanning booth is easily just as important as wearing sunglasses on a very sunny day.

You can usually buy tanning goggles at the tanning salon or borrow a pair from their front desk. Call the salon before your appointment to make sure that will let you wear a pair of tanning eye goggles from the moment they fire up the tanning bed.

Closing Your Eyes: As Good As Tanning Goggles?

You may think "Why not just keep your eyes closed". Actually, eyelids only protect about 25% of UV rays from your eyes. This can cause short term damage to your eyes and some of the symptoms included: Red, itchy or watery eyes may be an indication of short-term damage, which means that your eyes have been sunburned. The purpose of indoor tanning goggles is to protect your eyes from the harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) light.

The human eyelid is too thin to protect the eyes from ultraviolet radiation, so merely closing your eyes is simply not enough protection. Draping a towel across your face does not block the UV either, it only filters it. Without goggles for indoor tanning, clients risk burns to the cornea, cataracts and retinal damage.

Won’t Wear Tanning Goggles?  The Risks…

Refusing to wear tanning goggles inside a tanning bed is very dangerous proposition - over time can cause long-term damage to your eyesight.

Ultraviolet (or UV) rays can cause severe damage to your eyes and cause many vision-related problems. Just like sunglasses, the tanning goggles will block absolutely all of the damaging UV rays from reaching your eyes and the surrounding skin.

These  UV rays can cause  immediate “little” problems like eye irritation to far more dangerous eye issues like cataracts and macular degeneration.

Conjunctivitis (swollen, angry tear ducts) and eye irritation mean that you’ve  caused a burn on your cornea. Those tanning enthusiast who contract conjunctivitis can expect their eyes to become very teary and their eyelids will crust up.  This goo will blur or fog your vision.

Cataracts are the major leagues for tanning-related eye problems.  When you get a cataract, the “skin” (actually called a membrane, but it’s just like a clear skin) on the eye clouds over, and “fogs up” – permanently.  The only way to fix this is to go through expensive and painful surgery. If you go one step further, you can damage the retina – causing you to see black or purple spots – again, painful and expensive eye surgery is the only solution today.

But wait, that’s not all, you can also get “malignant  melanoma of the eye”.  This is a type of cancer associated with the use of tanning lamps and tanning beds without proper eye protection.

And if that weren’t enough - protecting your vision is certainly important… it is just as important to protect the skin around your eyes. Exposure to ultraviolet rays over the long-term can damage the fragile skin cells protecting your eyes. Too much unprotected exposure to UV rays will make you look old and wrinkly long before you’ll be willing to look old and wrinkly, and the skin around the eyes is some of your most sensitive skin on your body.

Tanning Goggles:
Just Do It!

When it comes to something as precious as your eyesight it is much better to be safe than sorry.

If you’re worried about cleanliness and sanitation, you don’t have to use the salon goggles.  You can actually buy your own pair and never have to worry about the funk and fungus from some nasty skank who doesn’t know how to bathe properly.  Getting your own pair can let you make sure that the goggles you use are completely germ-free, keeping you from catching communicable eye-related diseases, like pink eye, that might hop from customer to customer.

So, the next time you decide to go relax for a 20 minute nap in a tanning bed, be sure you use or bring your own tanning bed goggles. There’s no point in having a hot, sexy tan, when you can’t even see how good you look.  It’s not worth losing your eyesight over – wear them.

Buy Tanning Goggles

If you’re looking to buy tanning goggles of your very own, you might want to check these out:

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