Sunglasses

Reasons to Wear Sunglasses

1.) UV Protection. The sun's UV radiation can cause cataracts; benign growths on the eye's surface and may be related to eye aging.

2.0 Blue-Light Protection. Long-term exposure to the blue and violet portion of the solar spectrum has been implicated as a risk factor for macular degeneration, especially for individuals that are “sun sensitive.”

3.) Comfortable vision. The sun's brightness and glare interferes with comfortable vision and the ability to see clearly by causing you to squint and the eyes to water.

4.) Dark adaptation. Spending just two or three hours in bright sunlight can hamper the eyes' ability to adapt quickly to nighttime or indoor light levels. This can make driving at night after spending a day in the sun more hazardous.

5.) Skin Cancer. Cancer of the eyelids and skin around the eyes is more common than people think. You should wear sunglasses outdoors whether they are working, driving, participating in sports, taking a walk, running errands or doing anything in the sun.

Five Tips for Healthy Eyes

1.) Wear protective eyewear any time your eyes are exposed to UV light, even on cloudy days and during winter months.

2.) Look for quality sunglasses that offer good protection. Sunglasses should block out 99 to 100 percent of both UVA and UVB radiation and screen out 75 to 90 percent of visible light.

3.) Check to make sure your sunglass lenses are perfectly matched in color and free of distortions and imperfections.

4.) Purchase gray-colored lenses. They reduce light intensity without altering the color of objects, providing the most natural color vision.

5.) Don’t forget protection for children and teenagers. They typically spend more time in the sun than adults.

From a health standpoint, you want to keep all ultraviolet light from getting into your eyes and onto the lids and the skin around them. From a comfort standpoint, some people are very sensitive to brightness and glare. By cutting down brightness and glare, people will visually perform better and be more comfortable.

Sunglasses protect the eyes from painful sunburns and may help slow down cataracts and macular degeneration. Also, the skin around the eyes, including the lids, is one of the most prone to skin cancer. Protecting the skin around the eyes with UV-filtering sunglasses is a good way to prevent skin cancer in that area.

You should always look for sunglasses that block out 99 percent of ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B rays. Buying sunglasses from a doctor’s office is the best guarantee of getting a pair of sunglasses that are effective in protecting eyes from ultraviolet rays.

Make sure the lenses are dark enough to keep your eyes comfortable, but not so dark that they reduce your vision. If you spend a lot of time outdoors in intense glare from sunlight bouncing off snow or water, you should wear sunglasses that block blue light. Medium to dark lenses with a grey, or a slightly brown or green tint, will filter out most blue light. The best lens for this purpose is Polaroid.

Most sunglasses have plastic lenses. These lenses are tougher than glass and less likely to shatter. Always have a scratch coating applied to plastic lenses, look for a pair with a scratch-resistant coating. Check the lenses for distortion by putting the sunglasses on and looking at a rectangular pattern, such as floor tiles. If the lines stay straight when you move your head up and down, and side-to-side, then the amount of distortion is acceptable.

Sunglasses are made with different kinds of lenses to meet different needs:

Regular lenses reduce the brightness of everything evenly.
Polarizing lenses are designed to cut glare due to reflection.
This means they are good for driving and outdoor activities in the snow or on water.
Photochromic lenses change with the intensity of UV light by turning darker when outdoors and lighter when indoors. If you wear these for driving, choose sunglasses that are fairly dark.
"Flash" or mirror lenses reflect all or part of the light instead of absorbing it. They offer no performance advantage as they scratch easily. You should choose a pair with a scratch-resistant coating.

Transitions VI

Transitions plastic, high index or polycarbonate lenses respond to sunlight and darken automatically to absorb up to 80% of visible light. These lenses have been radically enhanced since their conception in the early 1990's. With Transitions VI the colors change faster with excellent consistency and range of color has increased.

Sun-Clips

Many prescription eyeglass frames now come with custom sun clips. These lightweight add-on clips usually have a standard gray or brown 80% absorption lens. There are even some that held on with tiny magnets. Please ask our opticians for the frames that either come with a clip or that has one made just for it. There is the possibility of manufacturing a custom sun clip.

Lens Color

The best color for your eyes is still gray. Brown is a second choice. The yellow lenses, sometimes called "blue blockers" are designed to cut through haze and enhance contrast. These are not true sunglasses as they often make objects appear brighter.

Polaroid
The fisherman's lens finally comes to the general public!

These lenses are excellent at eliminating reflected glare. Polaroid blocks most horizontal reflected light. Examples are light bouncing off a sidewalk, a car, or especially, water or snow. Polaroid lenses have been available for many years, but were very expensive and were very heavy when made in prescription lenses. The weight came from the design where a thin piece of polaroid plastic was sandwiched between two pieces of glass. The only ones to get good use from these lenses were fishermen and some skiers.

Now all this has changed. Polaroid sunglasses are made in lightweight plastic at a reasonable cost. The color is usually gray and the prescriptions are somewhat limited, but many people find this to be the most comfortable of all sunlenses. The lenses demonstrate very well. It is easy to see the effect of a good polaroid lens. Experience the comfort.