Vision For Winter Sports Can Make or Break a Season
The 2021-22 Winter snow season has been a wild one – with warmer temperatures keeping a lid on snowfall everywhere – except Hawaii! The most recent storms are bringing relief to skiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers across the country as resorts finally have enough snow to open. If you are waiting on your favorite winter wonderland, take this time for a thorough check of your gear to make sure you are ready to take full advantage of the season. In addition to boards, bindings, boots and helmets, take a moment and evaluate a most crucial piece of winter sports equipment – your vision – ask yourself if this is the year you get serious about LASIK.
Sporting activities require fast reflexes, which are put into motion by what the eye sees and how the brain responds by engaging hundreds of muscles and organs in the body. In other words, your vision for winter sports directly impacts your ability to get the maximum enjoyment out of them. Unfortunately for those who need them, eyeglasses and contact lenses can get in the way of outdoor winter fun. People who wear glasses or contact lenses while making the most out of the snow, cold and ice, have some fairly consistent complaints:
- Wearing prescription glasses under goggles while skiing, snowboarding or snowmobiling isn’t very safe in a fall or crash.
- While technically you should be able to see while wearing glasses under goggles or helmets – provided your glasses or goggles don’t fog up due to a poor fit – it isn’t especially comfortable.
- Prescription goggles are expensive, with a price tag starting at $200.
- Contact lenses, while safer on the slopes than glasses, are tough to manage in the dry, windy conditions often found at high altitude. Plus, contacts can be uncomfortable under the vacuum pressure of a pair of well-fitting goggles.
According to leading ophthalmologist, Steven Dell, M.D., “Keeping your eyes healthy and your vision clear are essential for the safety and enjoyment of all sports.”
Because of this, many winter sports and outdoor enthusiasts with vision correction needs have a great option in LASIK, a procedure with a high safety profile that consistently produces excellent visual outcomes – something that anyone who has to manage glasses or contacts to have vision for winter sports might find very appealing.
So if you are one of the millions whose love of winter sports is minimized by a reliance on corrective lenses, consider consulting a highly-qualified ophthalmologist – or refractive surgeon – to determine if vision correction with LASIK is a good option for you. A thorough evaluation of your eye health and vision is the best way to determine if you are a candidate for the procedure. Making sure your eyes are healthy and functioning at their highest level are key to ensuring you have the vision for Winter fun.
