The safety of your eyes and your eyesight should be at the forefront of your mind whenever you are working with radiation. Not only are your eyes one of the most sensitive parts of your body, they are also extremely vulnerable to damage caused by radiation. Not surprisingly, one of the best ways to protect your eyes is with leaded glasses. Radiology departments almost always require leaded glasses and other protective gear for anyone who operates or works near radiation, but it’s up to you to find protective glasses that you like.
Here at Kemper Medical, we offer a wide variety of the best lead glasses for radiation protection at prices you can afford. And you can rest assured that while our products may be cheap, they aren’t poorly made. We’ve made it our mission to provide high quality medical equipment at the cheapest prices possible so that you can get the equipment you need.
Leaded Glasses for Radiation Protection
Using leaded glasses for radiation protection isn’t just good business, it’s good sense. Anybody who works with radiology equipment needs to be aware of the serious risks radiation poses to their eyes. Some of the parts of your eye that can be damaged by radiation include:
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Retinal Blood Vessels - The tiny veins and arteries located inside of your eyes
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Conjunctiva - A mucous membrane that covers the front of your eyes
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Lenses - The clear portion of your eye that directs and focuses light
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Sclera - The relatively large, white outer layer of your eyes
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Irises - The round colored shape surrounding your pupil
While various parts of your eye are in danger from radiation exposure, the lens is one of the most susceptible parts. Even low doses of radiation can cause irreversible damage to the lens of your eye. One of the most common types of lens damage caused by radiation is radiation induced cataracts. In contrast to naturally occurring cataracts, cataracts caused by radiation tend to form on the posterior (rear) portion of the lens. Additional lens cell damage that can be caused by relatively low levels of radiation include cell death, abnormal cell reproduction, and mutated cell production.
Because radiation exposure — especially x-ray exposure — can accumulate over time, regular exposure can lead to severe health problems later in life including radiation induced cataracts as previously discussed. It’s up to you to reduce the radiation exposure to your eyes by consistently wearing lead glasses for radiation protection. This is especially true for people who perform fluoroscopy procedures because the fluoroscope machine or C-arm is operated directly rather than from a shielded control room.
If you work with any radiation equipment, you should consistently use high quality leaded glasses for protection. They can help protect your precious eyes from radiation while you work.
Who Should Wear Lead Glasses for Radiation Protection?
The short answer to who should wear leaded glasses for radiation protection is: anyone who works directly with any type of equipment that emits radiation. This includes technicians, nurses, dental assistants, and others who work with radiology equipment. Radiation may be invisible to the eye, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t cause irreversible damage.
Leaded glasses should be worn by medical professionals who operate or work around equipment like digital x-rays, traditional x-rays, CT image scanners, fluoroscope machines, and interventional radiology equipment. Your medical facility probably has procedures in place regarding who needs to wear leaded eye protection, and when and where that protection is necessary. But when in doubt, better safe than sorry.
Leaded Glasses for Primary Beam and Scatter Radiation Protection
Radiology technicians, dental assistants, and others who may not be able to retreat to a shielded control room should be aware of the different ways they can be exposed to dangerous radiation. Even people who don’t work in the medical field understand that they need to avoid unnecessary exposure to primary beam radiation.
However, this form of direct exposure can actually be less problematic for medical personnel than scatter radiation. Simply put, scatter radiation occurs when x-rays or other forms of radiation bounce off of different surfaces — including patients and medical equipment. Scatter radiation can be deceptively dangerous because x-rays can scatter multiple times off of different surfaces. That means you may not be safe just because you’re out of the direct line of sight for the radiology equipment.
Shielded control rooms and personal protective gear are the only way to protect yourself from harmful radiation. Of course, medical personnel that must work in close proximity to the patient receiving radiation based scans are at the highest risk for radiation exposure. It’s common sense for these technicians to wear protective gear including leaded glasses. Radiology departments tend to be very serious about the use of this type of equipment.
What you may not realize, though, is that you are generally more susceptible to radiation damage to your eyes when you have your head turned away from the scanning equipment. Leaded glasses, regardless of design, tend to be pretty effective at protecting your eyes from primary beam and most scatter radiation if you are facing the equipment at the time of the scan. If you must be turned away from the equipment while scanning — looking at a monitor for instance — you should look into buying a larger set of leaded glasses that wrap around the sides and offer additional protection. These larger styles offer you protection from primary radiation coming at you from the side. Again, even low doses of radiation could potentially result in long term damage to your eyes, so bigger may very well be better in these situations.
Find the Right Leaded Glasses for Radiation Protection
As you can see, finding the right lead glasses for radiation protection has to be about more than just style. You should take into consideration all aspects of your use of radiation equipment and take the time to find a good, comfortable pair of leaded glasses. Radiology regulations at your facility mean you probably have to wear leaded glasses for radiation scans, but it’s up to you to find leaded glasses that provide you with the right protection at the right price.
Here at Kemper Medical, we want to help you find exactly the leaded glasses you’re looking for. That’s why we offer a wide range of high-quality, cheap leaded glasses that are fitted with either Plano (non-prescription) or prescription lenses. Yes, you read that right. We offer high quality leaded glasses from some of the best names in the industry at cheap prices that you can afford.
So, what are you waiting for? Check out our selection of
Radiation Safety Glasses today to find exactly the right leaded glasses for you and your eyes.
