by Richard Beck - Leeds Carnegie RFC

Well, it's that team of year again... hay fever season. An estimated 18 million people in the UK suffer from hay fever. It affects people at different times with various symptoms. For some it's worse at night or later in the summer, while for others it means a constantly runny nose. My hay fever is usually worse at the beginning of the "summer" and gives me really itchy and sore eyes.

In previous years I would have been wearing my daily contact lenses during summer, which only made my eyes more irritable. Unfortunately, I had to keep my lenses because as a professional rugby player I needed perfect vision for when I was training and so taking them out and wearing glasses was not an option. Using eye drops to help alleviate the itching and swelling was not an option either as they couldn't be used while my lenses were in.

The problem with wearing contact lenses when the pollen count is high is that the pollen can get trapped under the lenses and the itchy eyes can become even worse which can lead to vision becoming blurry.

For me iGO lenses for hayfever  was the perfect solution for tackling these problems. I didn't have to wear any contact lenses or glasses during the day and still had perfect vision. Just by using the lenses overnight and taking them out in the morning it corrected my vision and allowed me to go al day without lenses or glasses. This also meant I could use eye drops during the day that would help alleviate some of the discomfort.

The overnight lenses  work by moulding the cornea and flattening the area over the pupil. The change is only small but it means that when you wake up and take the lenses out, you have better than 20/20 vision. The lenses are easy to put in and take out and you can't feel them once you close your eyes to go to sleep. People think it sounds too good to be true but it is definitely worth checking out whether you're a hay fever sufferer or not. Unfortunately iGO are yet to find a solution for the constant sneezing and runny nose but they can't do everything.