Question: Should I wear sunglasses? What kind are best?
Answer: ABSOLUTELY you should wear them anytime you are outside even on cloudy days. They are not, however, all created equal.
Summary of what type of sunglasses are best
Choose frames that wrap around close to your face on the sides, bottom and top (either worn without glasses or as ‘fit overs’ worn over glasses). For flat or wraparound frames that don’t fit close to the face, an anti-reflective coating on the back side of the lens is recommended to reduce reflections into the eyes when bright light comes onto the face.
The lenses should filter out 100% of the UVA & UVB rays of the sun and be polarized. Just because they filter 100% of the sun’s rays does NOT mean they are polarized.
Polarized sunglasses can be worn indoors. However, if you want to look at a computer screen with them, you need to turn the device 90 degrees in either direction.
For normal conditions, the lenses should be a warm color such as amber, copper, or brown. They help reduce glare and improve contrast. These colors naturally filter out some blue light (also called HEV) of the sun which has been linked to AMD. The % of blue light/HEV blocked can vary by brand.
If you are often in foggy, overcast, dawn or dusk conditions, yellow lenses are helpful. Be careful when you read about ‘driving glasses’ with yellow lenses. They are too dark for night driving – clear is best – and too light for day driving.
For low light environments, a clear lens is the best.
If you are frequently in environments where there’s a lot of reflected light such as from snow or from water, a mirror finish is recommended. There are various colors of mirror finish, each with different characteristics.
If your environment changes regularly, you may want to have several pairs of sunglasses. One type of lens cannot handle them all.
We recommend that you purchase your sunglasses from a source where the specifications can easily be found to tell you how much blue light is being filtered. Also, they should be scratch resistant if possible. Some companies have great warranties. If you are not buying them where you can try them on, make sure that you can return them for free or at minimal cost.
Why and What
Why
Everyone should wear sunglasses. Get small children in them very, very early, and they will always use them.
Over 80% of lifetime sun exposure occurs before age 19. That doesn’t mean it’s too late to start wearing sunglasses!
People with AMD already have inflammatory damage to the retina and need to reduce the additional oxidative damage from sunlight by wearing proper sunglasses.
Eyes with light-colored irises also have lighter pigmentation in the retina and are more susceptible to light damage. That doesn’t mean that dark-colored irises filter out damaging light so that you don’t need to wear sunglasses. It means that it’s especially important for those with light-colored eyes.
People who have had cataracts removed let more light INTO the eye because the aging brunescent [means brown] lens has been replaced with a clear implant.
Do you wear contacts that have a UV blocking coating You still need to wear sunglasses because the only part of the eye protected is behind the lens. Also, they don’t filter out the blue light of the sun that has been linked to the development and progression of AMD.
Taking certain medications can make your eyes more susceptible to light damage. In general, any medication that can make your skin more sensitive to light can make your eyes more sensitive to light. Also, some birth control & antibiotics can do that.
What
Lenses
They should filter out 100% of harmful UVA/UVA rays of the sun and as much blue light as possible:
You can, of course, get them from your optometrist where the options are presented to you & recommendations are made.
How do you know for sure if they do before you buy them: read the tags on them or the description online if that’s where you are buying them.
Coatings
Polarized Lenses
They have a laminated filter on them to block a portion of light from passing through to the eye. Polarized sunglasses were designed for settings in which light is intensified by reflecting off flat surfaces, increasing the amount of light and making it very difficult to see clearly. They are recommended for driving during the day.
Anti-reflective coating on the back of the lens
If your sunglasses don’t wrap around close to your face, try to get an anti-reflective coating on the back of the lens. It works to reflect any light that bounces off of the back of the lens and that goes into your eyes making it harder to see and causing more glare.
Night driving glasses
Although they are advertised more and more, they aren’t really a good idea. The article ‘Night driving glasses: Help or hoax?The article ‘ talks about a study where people wore yellow or clear lenses and were tested to see how they reacted to pedestrians. “Our data suggest that wearing yellow lens glasses when driving at night does not improve performance in the most critical task: detection of pedestrians,” the study authors said.