Although your eyelids are intended to shield your sensitive eyes from dangerous UV light, there's only so much such a thin layer of skin can do. In fact, eyelids are often the first places affected by cancerous cells.

Does closing your eyes block UV rays?

The short answer is if you squeeze your eyes shut very tight and then face the Sun, that should be enough to protect your eyes from damage. You won't go blind. ... You should never look directly at the Sun, with or without sunglasses, even during a solar eclipse, because that can cause a lot of damage to the eyes.

Does the human eye block UV rays?

The human retina is sensitive to the ultraviolet (UV) spectrum down to about 300 nanometres, but the lens of the eye filters it out. ... Artificial lenses are designed to block UV. But people born without a lens, or who have a lens removed and not replaced, sometimes report seeing ultraviolet as a whitish-violet light.