Eye Health - Meyehause

Category: Eye Health

Why would I want to have a mirror coating on the front surface of my sunglasses?

For over 30 years I have been answering this question, and I have heard fellow optical professionals provide some less than professional advice around this lens choice. So, let’s start with your sunglass basics. To choose to mirror or not mirror you must first understand what you are trying to accomplish with this tool that is your sunglasses. If they are just generally for cool factor then choose whatever you like, but in most cases, we are choosing to wear sunglasses because they are fixing something we want fixed. In the case of most common sunglasses, it is to reduce the amount of “bright” or visible light in sunny conditions. As discussed in a different blog, sunny conditions impact everyone, and some of us may be more sensitive than others. If you are in fact, light sensitive, meaning you are very uncomfortable on a clear, bright day without putting on a dark lens then a mirror may be a good choice for you.

Mirror coatings, while they can have a “cool factor” impact on the look, play the important role of making your lenses even darker. The mirror as you might expect reflects light away from the surface of the lens and allows less light through to enter your eye. So for those of you who are “light sensitive” or have migraines frequently triggered by light, then a mirror coating will allow you to operate your vision from a darkened space that helps your eye better regulate the amount of light needed and create sharper focus. By the same token, if you are not very “light sensitive” and you are like me and find yourself turning on lights even in daylight hours to “see better” then you may not be a good candidate for mirror coated lenses as they may frequently feel too dark and you may find yourself taking off your
sunglass to help your eyes focus.

So to recap, a high-quality mirror coating is designed to further reduce the amount of light that can enter the eye. This is good if extra help is needed for your eye to regulate the light getting to the receptor cells at the interior of the eye so you can better focus. However, if you prefer a little extra light in many cases a darkened lens is plenty adequate to ensure good vision and protect the light receptor cells from light overload. Be aware that if you choose a mirror surface, you must add an anti-reflective coating to the inside of the lens to allow light to escape clean and provide you with best clarity overall. If I am your optician, you know that I never make this coating optional, it is required to provide best performance from any sunglass, mirrored or not. We will talk more about that subject, in another post.
Peace, Love, & Great Glasses,
Paige Buscema, ABOC, VALDO

Why does my night vision suck?

You are likely just like many adults suffering from low vision acuity in low light settings like, nighttime driving, TV, Movies, theaters… BUT, did you know that one simple habit could help preserve your night vision?

That’s right, putting on a high quality sun lens when you go out into bright daylight, can help preserve your night vision. In fact, for every 10 minutes of bright daylight you are exposed to, you need 20-40 minutes for the daylight “bleached” pigment of the rod cells (rhodopsin) to recover your night acuity. Over time this recovery slows or lessens to a degree of noticeably poor vision in darkened spaces and night driving.

Everyone knows to wear full spectrum UVA/UVB protected lenses to reduce the harmful invisible light rays from damaging the back of the eye (retina), but not everyone recognizes that even the visible light that creates your day-vision, when unfiltered or too bright, can also cause damage to the cells of the eye.

Want to know why your child is afraid of the dark? It is because during unprotected outside playtime in bright daylight, their light receptor cells are being “bleached” and this makes night-time feel extra dark to children and causes night driving acuity to be poor for adults at younger ages than their counterparts that wear sunglasses routinely.

The good news is, wearing quality, light-filtering sunglasses year-round during the brightest times of the day, at all ages, may well help you preserve the activation time of your night vision and future night vision acuity. Only rock-stars on bright stages need to wear sunglasses at night, but the rest if us would do well to remember that while not all light is harmful to our vision, improperly filtered light definitely is, and it has long-term implications for our vision acuity in all lighting conditions. So, wear your sunglasses, protect your kids, and give the gift of better night vision to the whole family this year.