Skiers, Your Eyes Need More Protection Than You Think. Here's What Doctors Say.

Catie Evans had been skiing for days along the Continental Divide in Colorado when she woke up with swollen eyes.

After logging multiple 12-hour days back-to-back, all while wearing glacier glasses, the avid backcountry skier figured she was just tired. But as she skinned toward Dead Dog Couloir on 14,267-foot Torrey’s Peak, she remembers, “I started to feel like somebody had thrown sand in my eyes.”

Eventually, with her eyes watering, she had to ski down with one eye covered, squinting out of the other with her friends guiding her.

Later, Evans tried to troubleshoot. Had she damaged her glasses without realizing it? Did she miss news of a recall? Or, throughout the multi-day trip, had she taken them off more than she thought, slowly racking up UV exposure in the process?

She’s still not sure. But, she’s not the only skier to experience snow blindness, and her experience illustrates the importance of eye protection at high altitude. While we often discuss features like fit, contrast, and style when it comes to choosing goggles, sometimes we don’t spend as much time thinking about what they’re protecting us from. So, we called up a few eye doctors to ask all of your burning questions about eye safety on the slopes.

The truth about sun exposure

While you might associate sun damage with summer days, skiers are constantly enjoying a double-dose of UV radiation thanks to the strength of the sun above combined with the reflective snow below. And, that exposure increases by roughly 4 to 5 percent for every 1,000-foot increase in elevation thanks to the gradually-thinning atmosphere.

Never let temperature or overcast conditions fool you; those invisible rays are always shining down, and they’ll pierce right through the clouds into your unsuspecting eyeballs.

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“Whenever we’re outside, (UV) rays can damage the surface of the eye as well as the cornea and lens,”  explained Dr. Becky Leenheer, spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology spokesperson, an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico, and an ophthalmologist herself.

Children, she said, are especially vulnerable. “Over time, cumulative UV exposure raises the risk of cataracts and of growths on the eye’s surface.”

Dr. Thomas Litzinger, an avid skier and ophthalmologist at ReVision Lasik and Cataract Surgery in Ohio, noted that the scariest potential consequence of continued exposure is cancers of the eye or the skin around it.

These conditions develop gradually, Leenheer said, but you shouldn’t ignore short-term discomfort either. Issues like photokeratitis (snow blindness), which is basically a burn to the corneal surface, hurts like heck and can contribute to further problems, though you may not feel them developing in the moment. Going forward, they’re a sign to protect your eyes better next time.

Geeking out on goggles

Here’s the good news: Almost any pair of goggles on the market should protect you from these risks. To be sure, look for claims like “100% UV (or UVA and UVB) Protection” or “UV400.”

One caveat is that goggles are not regulated in the United States. While any reputable company should be safe, we make no promises about the $20 goggles you found on Amazon. Litzinger added that the European Union does regulate goggles, and the label CE (Conformité Européenne) denotes that a pair meets EU standards.

Beyond UV protection, he explained, choosing goggles comes down to preference, or safety in the sense that better visual quality and field-of-view may help you avoid other accidents.

He notes that one common misconception is conflating UV protection with Visible Light Transmission (VLT). This factor determines how much brightness your goggles let in, but has no bearing on UV protection.

“There is no correlation between darker lenses and higher UV blocking,” added Dr. Cameron Cutler, an optometrist at Summit Vision in Frisco, Colorado. “Tint color does not matter, buy what you like!”

Features such as different tints, anti-fog measures, and lens shapes may promise improvements when it comes to comfort and visual quality, but they also don’t impact sun exposure itself.

Litzinger added that some skiers mistake glare complications for snow blindness, but this is another misconception. Though glare can be painful, or even reduce one’s ability to see, the cause is excessive brightness and likely choosing the wrong VLT for the conditions, not UV exposure.

As unpleasant as glare is, you can rest assured you’re protected from a UV standpoint with quality goggles.

Some companies do try to mitigate this issue by offering tinted, high-contrast or polarized lenses for a more comfortable ride. But be aware the latter poses a trade-off many skiers opt against, Cutler noted, as it can hide dangerous icy patches as well as glare.

Final thoughts

Overall, Litzinger said, “It’s pretty important as skiers and riders to match your lens to the conditions to really discern contrast and terrain.” Additionally, Leenheer said, skiers should make sure their goggles are impact-resistant and fit snugly to protect you from wind, snow, and excess sunlight.

But, choosing the wrong ones (provided they have UV protection) won’t lead to any long-term eye damage, and neither will opting for budget goggles. “On the UV front, cheap and expensive are on the same playing field,” Litzinger said, adding that expensive goggles may distinguish themselves in other ways including fit, durability, and optical quality.

While some glasses and contacts block UV rays too, Cutler noted that full-coverage goggles offer the most protection for your eyes, as well as the sensitive skin around them.

That said, you’re only protected if you’re wearing them.

Plenty of eye damage occurs when skiers stop for lunch or a beer, take off the Oakleys, and expose their eyes to all those UV rays they’ve been avoiding all day, Cutler noted. So, even once you’ve taken off your skis, be aware of your environment and ready to rock eye protection for as long as you’re outdoors.