Lead Glasses for Radiation Protection

Lead Glasses for Radiation Protection

X-rays are used in all areas of medicine for diagnosing broken bones, tumors, certain forms of heart disease, early lung cancer and a host of other ailments and conditions. As anyone working in the field of radiology knows, extra care must be taken in protecting the eyes from exposure to radiation.

Eye Protection

All practitioners who treat the eye know that they must wear lead glasses for radiation protection. The eyes are especially delicate because they contain so much fluid. The proteins within the lens exposed to radiation can coagulate and congeal, causing a cataract to form.

Yearly Amount of Radiation

The average person can get up to 300 simple x-rays in a one-year period. This would mean that it is safe to get a chest x-ray or a set of dental x-rays. If the patient is pregnant, however, she should not have x-rays done without the advice of her doctor. He would probably have her wait until after she had delivered her baby.

Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) scans use a great deal of the allowed yearly radiation. Anyone having a CAT scan should let the doctor know about pregnancy and other x-rays that were taken within the last year.

Any professional in a field where x-rays are used should use protective wear, such as a lead apron, lead gloves and leaded glasses. These glasses are excellent radiation protection for the eyes.

Protective Glasses

Lead glasses have a few interesting features. Normally, the lead crystal glass is only on the front lenses, just like a regular pair of glasses. However, the frame for the leaded glasses is often dark plastic and eliminates the temptation to look sideways while doing an x-ray procedure. For a clinician to see to the right or to the left, he would have to turn his head.

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