Air pollution, dust and your eyes on the Metro Manila commute

Every organ in your body that meets the air is protected by something. Your lungs have a nose and a windpipe filtering ahead of them. Your skin has a barrier layer. Your eyes have a film of tears about as thick as a sheet of cling wrap, and that is it.

So if you spend two hours a day in traffic, your eyes spend two hours a day directly exposed to whatever is in it.

What is actually hitting them

Diesel exhaust, fine particulate matter, road dust kicked up by traffic, construction dust from the site you pass every morning, and smoke. Fine particles are small enough to stay suspended in the air at face height for a long time, which is why a windless day in heavy traffic feels worse than a breezy one.

Research on air quality and the ocular surface consistently links higher particulate exposure with more dry eye symptoms and more irritation. It is not exotic. It is the same reason your eyes sting on a smoky street.

What it feels like

• Gritty or sandy, as though something is in there
• Burning, especially in the last stretch of the ride
• Watery eyes — which sounds like the opposite of dry, but reflex tearing is exactly how an irritated eye responds
• Redness that fades an hour after you get indoors
• Itching, if you also have allergies, which dust and pollution reliably provoke

Why it is worse for contact lens wearers

A contact lens is a surface that particles can get trapped under, and a material that picks up deposits from the air over the course of a day. A lens that felt fine at 7am can feel like sandpaper by the time you reach the office.

If the commute is the worst part of your day for lens comfort, the practical answer is to commute in glasses and change at the office, or move to daily disposables so you are never wearing the same deposits twice.

Which commutes are hardest

Motorcycles, e-bikes and bicycles put your eyes directly into the airstream. Airflow across the eye evaporates the tear film faster than anything else, and adds grit at speed. A visor or wraparound eyewear is not optional here.

Open jeepneys and tricycles put you at exhaust height with no barrier at all.

Walking along a major road is worse than it feels, because you are at the same height as the traffic for the full length of it.

Air-conditioned cars are the most protected — as long as you switch the vent to recirculate in heavy traffic instead of pulling exhaust in from the car in front, and do not aim the vent at your face.

What actually helps

• Do not rub. If there is grit in your eye, rubbing drags it across the cornea and can scratch it. Blink hard, let tears do the work, or flush with clean water.
• Wear something over your eyes. Ordinary glasses give real mechanical protection against airflow and particles. Wraparound or larger frames give more.
• Carry preservative-free lubricating drops if your eyes run dry on the commute. Use them after the ride, not instead of getting checked if the problem is constant.
• Wash your face and lids at the end of the day. Whatever settled on your lashes and lid margins gets worked into your eyes overnight otherwise.
• Sunglasses on the ride home. Late afternoon sun plus dust plus glare off wet asphalt is the combination that sends most people home squinting.

When to stop managing it and get it checked

Irritation that clears within an hour of getting indoors is a nuisance. Get seen if you have pain rather than discomfort, light sensitivity, a drop in vision, redness that lasts more than a couple of days, or the sense that something is still stuck in your eye. Chronic exposure to sun, wind and dust is also associated with growths on the surface of the eye, which is one of the things a visual health exam looks for directly.

Set your commute up properly

Book a Vision7 eye test at your nearest Vision Express store. The seven-step exam includes a visual health exam of the eye surface, which is where commute damage shows first — dryness, irritation and early growths on the white of the eye — and it gives you a current grade so the pair you commute in is actually doing its job.

If you ride, drive, or walk a long stretch of road, ask for Shamir Opulens Exact at the counter and have it ordered polarized. Polarization is what cuts the flat glare coming off wet roads, car roofs and windscreens at the exact hours you are on them, and because the lens is made to your own measurements it stays sharp at the edges of a larger, more protective frame.

For the everyday clear pair that takes the dust and the wiping, Opulens Ultra 1.60 has an easy-clean finish that holds up to being cleaned often, and it is in stock and ready in 20 minutes.

Every pair comes with free lifetime ultrasonic cleaning — worth using every few weeks if you commute — plus free lifetime custom fitting and adjustment and a 1-year warranty.