Holi 2022: How to protect your eyes from colour? Expert offers insights

Holi 2022: Holi is almost here. The festival of colours brings with itself a lot of togetherness, enjoyment, fun, food and laughter. This is the time of the year when the houses and streets deck up in colours, people return from faraway cities to celebrate with their family, friends and near and dear ones and people indulge in lip-smacking food and drinks. Holi will be celebrated on March 18 this year. A day before Holi, Holika Dahan is celebrated which brings with itself a lot of mythological reference and significance. It is believed that on this day, Lord Vishnu saved his devotee Prahlad from the clasps of Prahlad’s father – the demon king Hiranyakashipu and his sister Holika – and defeated the evil. Hence, Holi denotes the triumph of good over evil.

Holi is celebrated with a lot of grandeur and pomp all throughout the country. This is the time when people indulge in playing with colours. Kids bring out their water pistol, water balloons, gulal and play with each other by smearing their faces. However, Holi is also the time when harmful colours have the chances of getting into your eyes and skin and lead to illnesses. Even though we are always asked to play Holi responsibly, we sometimes may get exposed to severe chemicals used in making these colours. So how do we strike the right balance between having fun and also keeping ourselves safe?

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In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Rishi Bhardwaj, HOD, Opthalmology, Paras Hospitals, Gurugram said that it is important to have protective gear while playing Holi. He said that people can use protective eyeglasses, zero power glasses or sunglasses to save their eyes from colours. He also recommended that natural colours be used for playing Holi, which doesnot harm the body and especially the eyes. “Also, majority of the colours being sold in the market may contain hazardous chemicals such as asbestos, mercury, silica, mica and lead. These are very toxic to the skin and eyes and can lead to symptoms such as irritation, redness, and allergies. Therefore, it is always better to use traditional natural colours made from flowers and turmeric,” he added.

Rishi Bhardwaj also strictly recommended that contact lenses should not be used while playing Holi. When colours get inside the eye, it has more tendency of depositing in the contact lenses. He further added that we should not rub the eyes with colours in hand as it may cause corneal abrasion.