See-through MaskA simple solution for a see-through mask offering UV protection. (Unfortunately if you need protection against the blue spectrum of visible light it will be necessary to wear an opaque mask which blocks out all light.) A range of clear plastic medical visors are available from medical suppliers. A mask with nose pegs is probably not suitable for spectacle wearers. Over the outside of the mask apply Dermagard film. The masks I have seen are either not long enough or do not offer sufficient side protection. However the use of dermagard plus backing over the solid visor is helpful in preventing the dermagard flopping into your face or becoming quickly damaged and scratched, but because of the overhang it is necessary to retain the backing on the dermagard apart from a strip across the top of the headband. Therefore the easiest way I have found is to purchase the Mask detailed below which allows you to attach a strip of dermagard only to the headband. Mask from McKinnons, Product Code FS100 or GCSS Cost £45.42 for a box of 24 shields. (Called disposable for hospital purposes, well re-usable for ours - consider sharing a box among a group.)
 Click images to enlarge You will need to use something like a headscarf as well. Headscarf: Cover your head with a headscarf of UV protective fabric with long ends to wrap around your neck. Attired in this mask and headscarf you will be protected from harmful UV but your face will be clearly visible through the visor, which is becoming a significant public issue these days. StockistsMedical Suppliers: UV Eclipse Badge |
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Travelling Safely by CarFor anyone suffering from extreme light sensitivity, getting safely from one place to another is a nightmare. In daytime there are huge windows everywhere, at night in public transport the lights are fluorescent, and in a car the oncoming headlamps are often LED or halogen, and almost instantly migraine-producing. Over the last ten years we have made more and more adaptations to our car. I would like to share with you what we have discovered, which first made the 100 mile journey we had to make to our closest hospital with a photobiology department seem almost like a "day out" - something we hadn't been able to enjoy for many years - and has since enabled us to visit friends and relations who live at a distance. First it is necessary to screen all your car windows against UV with something like DermaGard. This must be done by an expert technician. It is not legally permissible to apply coloured film, or to darken the windscreen. The front side windows can be darkened to some extent. Have the darkest film possible applied to the back side windows and to the back window. (If your reversing light(s) are not powerful enough to enable you to see through this easily at night, it is quite cheap to have extra reversing lights fitted.) The real problem is stopping the light that comes through the front windows from reaching the light sensitive person on the back seat. For this we cut a piece of blackout curtain lining big enough to go from door-pillar to door-pillar, and from roof to floor - leaving enough space for the fronts seats to be pushed back as far as is needed! Velcro is sewed to the lining, and the other side of the Velcro is attached to the door pillars of the car with two-sided tape. You do not normally need to attach any to the ceiling, as the Velcro on the lining stuck to that quite adequately by itself. If you do not need such a complete blackout, a simple solution is to sew two large elastic loops onto a foil windscreen protector, to fit onto the headrests of the two front seats. This is also very quick to remove and replace. Some people will find that enough, and we do mostly for short trips. But for mid-summer and longer trips we put the sort of windscreen shade you buy for parked cars against the rear window, and extra commercial shades against the side windows. For long trips in summer, we simply shut a piece of heavy black plastic (rubble bag or agricultural sheeting) in the back doors, which effectively shuts out all light from coming through the side windows. (If you have a hatchback, you can also black out the rear window this way). In the day-to-day use of the car the only things noticeable are the strips of Velcro down the inside of the door-pillars. When an extremely light-sensitive person needs to come too, the adjustments take about 5 minutes. Extreme? Restricting? 10 years ago we would have thought so. Now it means FREEDOM!
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Bathroom LightWhen you have to use public bathrooms, in hospital accommodation or in hotels, the lights can be a severe problem, often a blazing halogen or fluorescent disc. You can solve the problem by keeping the light off and using a night light inserted into a European Adaptor Plug which fits into a bathroom "shaver" socket. This provides a dim but adequate light for using the bathroom in comfort and safety. |
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