Galicia (Spain), Nowadays you can buy cheap sunglasses just about anywhere – from supermarkets and petrol stations to corner shops and online fashion retailers, but such ubiquity can raise doubts about the protection offered .
While their lenses generally meet some minimum UV protection requirements, their quality in other respects, such as visual clarity, is disappointing.
However, opticians are governed by national health regulations, meaning they must meet higher standards such as CE and UKCA marks. Professional opticians are therefore better equipped to help customers wear sunglasses that Not only meeting their practical demands, but also being comfortable and fitting their facial features.
Safety regulationsEuropean law classifies sunglasses lenses as "personal protective equipment", outlining five levels of protection.Category 0 lenses let in 80-100 percent of the light, while Category 4 lenses only let in 3-8 percent, which means they are not suitable for driving. Category 3 is the most commonly used, as it is suitable for most situations, including driving.
So, do dark lenses protect you better? The short answer is: The degree of light absorption does not necessarily depend on how and where they will be used, Category 4 lenses are designed for extremely bright areas such as high mountains or deserts, but in fact in other situations Your visibility may be reduced.
However, all sunglasses that meet established standards will protect your eyes from UV radiation.Quality of vision
Wearing sunglasses can feel like your vision is obstructed.This is because a tinted lens selectively filters light: it lets in one type of radiation and limits another. Three concepts can help us understand how it works, and why it is important.
The first is visual acuity. This is a term used to measure how fast we see, and is tested by asking patients to read small letters appearing on a screen or wall chart, with the ideal result being around 100 percent. However, this test is performed with black letters on a well-lit white background, so it does not take into account how visual quality may vary in other lighting conditions.Contrast sensitivity is defined as the ability to distinguish objects from the surrounding background. For example, it is more difficult to distinguish black letters on a gray background than on a white background.
Finally, we have refractive errors, which affect both visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. These are the causes of astigmatism and make us long-sighted or short-sighted. Wearing non-prescription sunglasses when suffering from any of these conditions may make vision worse than without them.color matters
With all this in mind, we should also look at the general question of lane color. While color does not affect safety, it can affect the sense of contrast and brightness, as each color filters a different wavelength o light.
Gray lenses filter all wavelengths of light, while colors like brown or green have a different effect on light absorption. This means that visual perception becomes brighter through brown lenses, much darker through gray lenses, and more natural through green lenses.Plastic or glass lenses?
It's not just color that affects the quality of vision: we also need to pay attention to what the lenses are made of.While they are usually made of special plastic – known as organic lenses – you can also find glass ones, known as mineral lenses.
These two ingredients are not the same. Organic lenses are lighter and stronger while mineral lenses are more scratch resistant and less prone to distortion. This means that mineral lenses provide better quality of vision. What about polarized lenses?
Polarized lenses block light reaching the eye at a certain angle after being reflected from a surface such as road or water, reducing glare. They are especially suitable for driving or spending time around water.However, they may be inappropriate in some situations. For example, they block light from screens, making them appear dark or completely black, meaning devices often have to be rotated to improve visibility. They are also not ideal for some winter sports: by eliminating glare they make it too easy to miss icy patches on the ground. Other features
Finally, there are some design features that we cannot ignore when choosing sunglasses.
Gradient lenses are darker at the top, and turn lighter at the bottom – they typically absorb about 85 percent of the light in their darkest area, and 10 percent in the lightest area.These lenses are stylish, but that doesn't affect their protection from UV rays. That said, they may be better suited to cloudy conditions, and on bright summer days they may not be the best choice.
Reflective lenses have a coating on their outer surface that reflects light and increases protection. Unfortunately, this treatment is easily damaged or scratched.
Lenses with anti-reflective coating inside the lenses provide greater clarity of vision by deflecting light reflected from behind the wearer.This treatment is usually applied to large sunglasses, or glasses with optically very high quality lenses. In case of any doubt, the best advice is to talk to your optician or optometrist to find the sunglasses That meets your needs.(th conversation) grs
GRS
While their lenses generally meet some minimum UV protection requirements, their quality in other respects, such as visual clarity, is disappointing.
However, opticians are governed by national health regulations, meaning they must meet higher standards such as CE and UKCA marks. Professional opticians are therefore better equipped to help customers wear sunglasses that Not only meeting their practical demands, but also being comfortable and fitting their facial features.
Safety regulationsEuropean law classifies sunglasses lenses as "personal protective equipment", outlining five levels of protection.Category 0 lenses let in 80-100 percent of the light, while Category 4 lenses only let in 3-8 percent, which means they are not suitable for driving. Category 3 is the most commonly used, as it is suitable for most situations, including driving.
So, do dark lenses protect you better? The short answer is: The degree of light absorption does not necessarily depend on how and where they will be used, Category 4 lenses are designed for extremely bright areas such as high mountains or deserts, but in fact in other situations Your visibility may be reduced.
However, all sunglasses that meet established standards will protect your eyes from UV radiation.Quality of vision
Wearing sunglasses can feel like your vision is obstructed.This is because a tinted lens selectively filters light: it lets in one type of radiation and limits another. Three concepts can help us understand how it works, and why it is important.
The first is visual acuity. This is a term used to measure how fast we see, and is tested by asking patients to read small letters appearing on a screen or wall chart, with the ideal result being around 100 percent. However, this test is performed with black letters on a well-lit white background, so it does not take into account how visual quality may vary in other lighting conditions.Contrast sensitivity is defined as the ability to distinguish objects from the surrounding background. For example, it is more difficult to distinguish black letters on a gray background than on a white background.
Finally, we have refractive errors, which affect both visual acuity and contrast sensitivity. These are the causes of astigmatism and make us long-sighted or short-sighted. Wearing non-prescription sunglasses when suffering from any of these conditions may make vision worse than without them.color matters
With all this in mind, we should also look at the general question of lane color. While color does not affect safety, it can affect the sense of contrast and brightness, as each color filters a different wavelength o light.
Gray lenses filter all wavelengths of light, while colors like brown or green have a different effect on light absorption. This means that visual perception becomes brighter through brown lenses, much darker through gray lenses, and more natural through green lenses.Plastic or glass lenses?
It's not just color that affects the quality of vision: we also need to pay attention to what the lenses are made of.While they are usually made of special plastic – known as organic lenses – you can also find glass ones, known as mineral lenses.
These two ingredients are not the same. Organic lenses are lighter and stronger while mineral lenses are more scratch resistant and less prone to distortion. This means that mineral lenses provide better quality of vision. What about polarized lenses?
Polarized lenses block light reaching the eye at a certain angle after being reflected from a surface such as road or water, reducing glare. They are especially suitable for driving or spending time around water.However, they may be inappropriate in some situations. For example, they block light from screens, making them appear dark or completely black, meaning devices often have to be rotated to improve visibility. They are also not ideal for some winter sports: by eliminating glare they make it too easy to miss icy patches on the ground. Other features
Finally, there are some design features that we cannot ignore when choosing sunglasses.
Gradient lenses are darker at the top, and turn lighter at the bottom – they typically absorb about 85 percent of the light in their darkest area, and 10 percent in the lightest area.These lenses are stylish, but that doesn't affect their protection from UV rays. That said, they may be better suited to cloudy conditions, and on bright summer days they may not be the best choice.
Reflective lenses have a coating on their outer surface that reflects light and increases protection. Unfortunately, this treatment is easily damaged or scratched.
Lenses with anti-reflective coating inside the lenses provide greater clarity of vision by deflecting light reflected from behind the wearer.This treatment is usually applied to large sunglasses, or glasses with optically very high quality lenses. In case of any doubt, the best advice is to talk to your optician or optometrist to find the sunglasses That meets your needs.(th conversation) grs
GRS