Medical Safety Goggles – Application & Health Benefits
Medical goggles
What distinguishes medical safety goggles , what distinguishes them from work safety goggles? Are there different types of medical safety goggles? How are medical safety goggles constructed? What is its use? The present article deals with all these questions.
What are medical goggles?
Medical safety goggles as part of work clothing are work safety goggles. It serves to protect the eyes and the eye region with a tight-fitting frame.
The medical safety goggles are characterized by lenses and a frame made of plastic that are resistant to chemicals, heat, cold and flying particles.
Shapes, Species & Types
The employer is obliged by the Occupational Health and Safety Act to provide the employee with personal protective equipment (PPE) that must comply with DIN EN 166. In the field of medicine, this includes medical safety goggles.
For better adjustment to the shape of the head and coverage of the eye area, the angle and length of the temples can be flexibly adjusted. The ergonomic forehead rest also serves to ensure a better fit. The top end counteracts disruptive light reflections or dust and chemicals. Nose loops allow a non-slip fit in any head position and avoid pressure points. Soft temple ends also increase comfort without pressing on the sensitive areas behind the ears.
In this way, support for the individual movement sequence is possible: the glasses that are put on sit firmly and remain there, a high level of wearing comfort is guaranteed. Wearing the medical safety goggles for a long time is possible without any problems – not least because of their low weight.
Some glasses have an anti-reflective coating. These are characterized by high transmission: the visible range of light with a wavelength longer than 400 nm is transmitted almost 100 percent. All high-energy light rays up to 400 nm are completely blocked as with the 400 nm cut-off filter. This avoids disturbing light reflections. This enables a glare-free, fatigue-free view at the workplace with a mix of artificial light and natural light. Wearing medical safety goggles increases performance and safety in the activity to be performed, for example manual activities such as surgery, dental technology, reading data and working in the laboratory. Some laboratory glasses also block the other end of the spectrum:
The glasses / panes meet the highest optical quality class according to DIN EN 166. Distortion-free images prevent fatigue at work. If high-impact polycarbonate is used according to the standard, the glasses also offer maximum protection against mechanical hazards. The glasses must be scratch-resistant, impact-free and anti-static.
Some goggles are compatible with the user’s regular glasses as overspecs . In other medical safety goggles, the optical correction can be incorporated into the lenses.
Various plastic materials are used for the frame in an injection molding process. This is how metal-free medical safety goggles are produced, which is of interest to allergy sufferers . A few models are available in metal or metal/plastic finish.
Certain models offer panoramic lenses for an unrestricted field of vision with integrated side shields. Since they seal tightly all around, they have a system with ventilation slots, can be easily folded and stowed away in the smock if necessary.
Medical safety goggles are being developed for medical steam pressure sterilization work that do not fog up during autoclave work. This property is guaranteed by a special coating.
The lens shape of some frames, similar to sports half-rim glasses, is adapted for particularly high cheekbones, while other frames are optimized for narrow faces. With other models – as with some sports glasses – the plastic lenses can be easily changed. Some glasses are provided with nanoparticles so that they can be cleaned quickly.
The glasses have different designs: in addition to conventional shapes in a frame that encloses the entire glass, there are also curved glasses that reach into the side area of the face. These glasses can, but do not have to, be completely enclosed by a frame. This makes a sporty design possible, often in different colors and shapes of frame and lenses.
Structure & functionality
The medical safety goggles consist of a frame – mostly made of plastic – and lenses, which are mostly also made of plastic. Some frames can be worn as overspecs over the user’s optical correction. Different plastics are used depending on the area of application: Impact-resistant polycarbonate, cellulose acetate, glass or hard glass for the viewing panes.
Coatings are possible to ensure the properties “scratch resistance”, “anti-fogging”, “resistance to chemicals”, “protection against pollution” and “polarization”. A very similar design – but with different lenses – can be found for sports, water sports, alpine and ski areas and the area of therapeutic edge filters for people with visual impairments or blindness . The frame offers reliable protection of the eye area against external influences such as UV and IR light, chemicals, heat, cold, dust and particles. Different tints of the viewing panes – or clear glass – are possible depending on the area of application.
Medical & health benefits
According to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the employer must equip its employees with medical protective goggles, for example. In this way he fulfills his duty of care to ensure the occupational safety of the employees. The employee himself benefits from more relaxed vision and less stress at work. Safe, unencumbered, glare-free, fatigue-free vision increases the productivity of the work done. This applies to activities in the laboratory such as carrying out or evaluating tests, activities in the operating room or in dental technology.
Employers and employees benefit from the higher security of data quality and more efficient performance. The patient in the operating room and the surgical team benefit from increased safety during the operation.
Hello! I am Lisa Newlon, and I am a medical writer and researcher with over 10 years of experience in the healthcare industry. I have a Master’s degree in Medicine, and my deep understanding of medical terminology, practices, and procedures has made me a trusted source of information in the medical world.