Anti-Glare Sunglasses: Protect Your Eyes and Enhance Your Vision
Anti-glare coatings aren’t just an addition to make your eyeglasses or sunglasses look better. Anti-glare coatings can enhance your vision by reducing eye strain and reflections off the inside and outside of your lenses.
Much attention is paid to the supplemental coatings that can be added to prescription eyewear, but these coatings can be just as beneficial when applied to sunglasses
What is glare? How does it affect our eyesight?
Glare is the term that describes the reflection of light off a surface. You can get glare from artificial light or sunlight, which can be reflected off all surfaces.
A glare of light that’s directed into your vision—like off a mirror or the snow—can make it difficult to see for an instant. But this glare on your eyeglasses or sunglasses lenses can cause ongoing visual problems and distractions that don’t necessarily disappear when you change position
What are Anti-Glare and Anti-Reflective Lens Coatings?
Anti-glare and anti-reflective coatings are special applications that are applied to your lenses. These special applications can be made to either prescription eyeglasses or sunglasses.
The goal of these coatings is to reduce glare or reflection from the outer surface of the lens to other people and from the inner surface of the lens into your eye. Anti-glare and anti-reflective sound like the same thing but have slightly different functions.
Anti-glare coatings reduce glare from light that bounces off the outer side of your lenses. Reducing glare can help prevent too much light from bouncing off your lens, allowing more light and visual information to pass into your eye.
Anti-reflective coatings block both internal and external light, offering you protection against glaring reflections that can hit the inside surface of your lenses and bounce back into your field of vision. They also help to improve the contrast and sharpness of the image you see, making them an ideal addition for high-index lenses.
Benefits of Anti-Glare and Anti-Reflective Sunglasses
Anti-glare and anti-reflective coatings work to focus light into your eye to give a clear message about what you are seeing. Rays of light from glare or reflection of your lenses can interrupt the image you are looking at, so these coatings reduce these disruptions and allow more light from where you are looking to pass through the lens.
Darkly tinted sunglasses don’t usually need anti-glare coatings, but anti-reflective coatings can help protect your eyes from rays of light that reflect off the inside of your sunglasses and into your eyes
By reducing glare and reflections of light from other sources, your eyes can better focus on what you are looking at. These extra coatings can increase the focus, contrast, and sharpness of the object you are looking at, as well as protect your eyes from harmful ultraviolet rays.
What types of anti-glare glasses are there?
Anti-glare glasses tend to offer more ultraviolet light filtering and may also be referred to as polarized lenses. Anti-reflective lenses let more light through but have a thinner layer of coating to prevent reflection from the surface of the lens.
Different coatings from different manufacturers are unique, so be sure to do your research and find the right coating for your needs.
How to Choose the Right AR Coating
Anti-reflective coatings are made up of tiny metallic oxide particles that deflect light from your lenses. There are many brands and formulas of AR coatings, with different coatings specifically created for certain purposes or activities.
For example, you may want to choose a coating that is made to be highly durable if you lead an active lifestyle or that offers a lot of deflection if you spend a lot of time outdoors. Some options filter blue light or come in different colors based on your preference and needs.
How to make your glasses anti-glare at home
You cannot make your own anti-glare or anti-reflective coatings at home. These coatings are specially prepared according to specific formulas. They are applied in very thin coats using special machinery.
If you have existing sunglasses or eyeglasses that you want to reduce to be anti-glare or anti-reflective, you can have new lenses fitted into your existing frames. OvernightGlasses.com offers lens replacement services where you can have new lenses with any treatment you want—including anti-reflective coating—placed into any existing frame and delivered to your home within two days
Caring for Your Anti-Glare Sunglasses
Anti-glare and anti-reflective coatings can be easily damaged by abrasive materials or cleaners. Eyeglasses or sunglasses treated with these coatings are best cleaned with plain, warm water. You can add a little dish soap if you need a better cleaning. After cleaning, polish with a soft microfiber cloth for the best results.
Conclusion
Anti-glare and anti-reflective coatings can help you see better when applied to eyeglasses or sunglasses. These coatings help reduce distracting glares that could make it difficult to see or harm your eyes.
These coatings aren’t something you can add yourself at home, but you can replace your existing lenses with new, treated lenses through services like those offered by Overnight Glasses.
