My husband has always had sensitive eyes. He takes prescription eye drops when it gets bad. They turn red around the rim, on the eyeball sometimes and tears up. The doc said it’s like rosacea of the eyes. It’s a hassle to deal with.
So, even if he just puts sunscreen in the middle of his cheeks and lower, he thinks it soaks and moves up towards his eyes and they get really bad. He wants to wear it, but often just doesn’t.
Anybody else deal with this and have a solution?
Is it possible that your husband’s eyes would react more favorably to a different brand of sunscreen?
He’s tried several! I wonder if clear zinc might work. Just found that.
Clinique makes the only sunscreen I’ve found that doesn’t irritate my eyes.
Or one with different ingredients.
Since sunscreens have lots of different ingredients (both the active sunscreen ones and the other ones that do things other than be sunscreen), it may be somewhat difficult to isolate which ones are the irritants.
Has he tried sunscreen designed for kids/babies? Maybe it will be less irritating.
Could it just be from the rosacea? It can worsen with heat, wind, etc.
If not, a good hat might help.
Note that some “kid” / “baby” sunscreens have identical ingredients lists as other sunscreens from the same brand but not labeled for “kid” / “baby”.
Wear a hat and sunglasses? I can’t SS my upper face when I am riding my bike and I use a real variety of SSs. So I have a sweat hat which is UV, the helmet and sunglasses. What does he do that precludes a hat and sunglasses? Swimming (real swimming) is a problem for sure. I don’t think SS crawls up, but for sure he touches his face right. I think the naturals are crap (zinc types).
My kids used to SCREAM when I put sunscreen on them.
I get very bothered by sunscreen in my eyes.
For some reason Neutrogena sunscreen doesn’t bother any of us.
I use Cerave moisturizer with SPF 30, and I’ve been biking/sweating a fair amount lately. He could consider that.
There are also many varieties of sensitive skin sunscreen. I’ve always been a fan of Neutrogena sun care products.
He does wear a hat more often, but sometimes he just doesn’t want to wear one.
There two basic types of sunscreen - the type that absorbs into the skin and the type that sits on top. If your H is convinced it’s the adjacent skin absorption irritating his eyes, then as a plan B maybe try the surface type? Downside is the the surface types leave an obvious coating, think lifeguards with white paste on their noses.
Plan A would be try some of the other absorbent types mentioned in this thread first, though.
but sometimes he just doesn’t want to wear one.<<<<
eh.
@Sybylla …not sure I’m understanding your post.
Sometimes he doesn’t like to wear a hat. Who does? Plus, he surfs, he does water sports, he runs. That makes it frustrating to figure out how to protect his skin.
Australians surf, they have surf hats. My children and us 'rents wore hats in the sea all the time. But like children, sometimes DHs aren’t really looking for a solution. So eh.
Um…he’d like a solution to be able to find a sunscreen without issues. What’s so hard to understand about that?
I also have sensitive eyes and tend to get blepharitis. I don’t have any problems with my sunscreen, but I do have trouble with the Retin A cream the dermatologist prescribed. Even though I’m very careful not to apply anywhere near my eyes, it migrates and I end up with red, irritated eyelids. Here’s what has worked for me - I first apply a small amount of Aquaphor ointment to my upper and lower lids and then apply the RetinA. Aquaphor has healing and protective properties and it seems to form a barrier that keeps the RetinA from migrating to my lids. Might be worth a try.
Most sunscreen burns my eyes, too. There are a couple that I’ve found that don’t migrate and don’t burn, even when I’m sweating or getting splashed. The Coola SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen Matte Cucumber is my favorite because it is never irritating and once it soaks in, is matte.
https://www.dermstore.com/product_Mineral+Face+SPF+30+Cucumber+Matte+Finish+Moisturizer_27542.htm
Does he wear contacts? (Just curious)