Sunglasses have been around for almost 100 years in their current form and as they have became readily available to everyone, they have become increasingly popular. During my exams with patients, I encourage everyone to ask questions and sun wear comes up all the time. So to celebrate National Sunglasses Day in June, I put together a list of the most frequently asked questions.
1. What do sunglasses do and should I wear them?
Sunglasses are glasses with a tinted lens reducing the amount of light getting to the eye; most common tints are gray and brown although nearly any color is available. Most sunglasses these days block 100% of UVA and UVB light from the eye as well.
From a UV perspective, most eye experts recommend wearing sunglasses at least during peak daylight hours using the same rule you’d use with sunscreen from 10:00am to 2:00pm, although most of us find we are more comfortable with sunglasses in bright sunlight regardless of the time of day.
2. How much lens tint is too much tint?
There are gradients on how much light is blocked through the lens and the darker the lens, the less light passes to your eye. There are many patients who are very light sensitive and find they prefer darker tints than you can get from the over the counter shops and instead opt for something with a custom tint. Our staff has different examples of the amount of tint that we can place in a lens and they show patients comparisons to figure out what is most comfortable. There are tints that are too dark and they can get so dark you can’t see much through them; think like the helmet a welder wears or a filter used to view a solar eclipse.
3. What is the best age to start wearing sunglasses?
Believe it or not, the best time to use UV protection is when you’re a baby. The lens inside our eye helps most adults block quite a bit of UV from getting into the eye and damaging the light sensitive part of the eye (retina) but when you’re younger than that, the light passes through the eye and can get to the retina. Ultraviolet light is also absorbed by the lens over time and this is thought to cause cataracts. Protecting kids from UV while the lens is thin and vulnerable to more damage is a smart plan. We recommend starting young. Kids will get into the habit of wearing sunglasses and that will protect their eyes for a lifetime. For those of us over 20, leading by example helps encourage kids around us that wearing UV protection outside is a normal and healthy thing to do. Wearing sunglasses is not only my favorite healthy habit, it can also be cool and trendy too!
4. What are polarized lenses and are they worth getting?
Polarized lenses block all the light from one angle but none of the light 90 degrees away. For example, imagine there is light forming a uppercase letter H. If you had a polarized lens over your eyes, you’d see the sides of the H but not the middle horizontal line and it would look like 2 lowercase Ls. If you rotated the polarized lens 90 degrees, you’d go from seeing the sides of the H to just a dash and the vertical lines would disappear.
Why is that useful you ask? Glare tends to come from a specific direction and blocking that glare makes it much easier to see. Think about driving after it has rained and seeing reflections off the road, polarized lenses will remove those reflections. More practically though, it removes the reflections of your own dash in your front window when it’s really sunny. Fishermen and those native to snowy environments have been using this idea for centuries by looking through a thin slit to block glare from water or a snowy landscape.
Most people who have used polarized sunglasses for a long time find they are less comfortable switching to just tinted lenses without the polarization and often switch back.
5. How do I know if my sunglasses are polarized?
It is easy to find out if you have polarized sun wear. Many devices we use daily use polarized screens. Ever look at your smart watch with sunglasses on and wonder why the screen turns black? The light from the screen is blocked by your lens; to see it again, just rotate your head and like magic, it’s back. Ever notice a checkerboard pattern on your side windows when you’re driving? Car windows are polarized at a diagonal and you can only see it if you have polarized glasses on.
6. What is the difference between sunglasses and Transitions (photochromic) lenses?
Sunglasses, polarized or not, are always the same color or tint. If they are a dark gray, they will always be that dark. Photochromic lenses, like Transitions or SunSync, are activated by UV light and get darker or lighter. The more UV light they are exposed to the darker they get; they won’t be as dark in a car as outside due to windows blocking most of the UV. When you go inside, they return to nearly clear. For some patients, this is the best of both worlds. But the catch is you have to wait for them to turn back once you’re inside and that usually takes about 90 seconds. These photochromic lenses turn quicker than they used to but it’s still not instant.
Until recently, if you wanted a color other than gray or brown, you couldn’t get them in photochromic lenses, but over the last few years, you can get purple, emerald green, amber and a few others. As of this writing, there are at least 7 Transitions colors.
7. Do sunglasses protect skin from UV damage?
If your pair of sun wear covers from your eyebrow and nearly rests on your cheek and doesn’t let much stray light in like many designs (think aviators or lenses that wrap around your temples), they protect the skin of the eyelids from UV damage as well. Sunscreen doesn’t feel good if you get it in your eyes, so most of us avoid our eyelids. Keeping sunglasses covering this delicate tissue not only reduces wrinkles but your skin cancer risk as well.
8. Do sunglasses help dry eye symptoms?
A little. A frame that wraps around your temples and contours close to your face can block wind or air movement around your eyes that cause them to dry out, but it’s not a very effective treatment for dry eye alone.
Have more questions about sunglasses? Check out this article
Schedule an appointment with one of our doctors to review your unique options about sun wear. Our skilled team can help you see more clearly for life! Call or text us at 816-524-8900.
Posted June 2022 for National Sunglasses day by Laura Nennig, OD; she specializes in contact lens fittings, with advanced training with scleral lenses
