Anti Glare Lenses - beyond nothing .com

You are buying a new pair of glasses for yourself, when suddenly the optician asks you “Would you like anti-glare lenses?”. And you go “What?”. And then they say something you don’t quite understand in the moment, but apparently it just doubled your bill. Did you make the right call?

In this article we talk about glare free lenses for glasses, explain what they are about and whether we need them in our lives.

What are Anti-Glare Lenses

First we need to understand what glare is.

What is glare?

In general glare is the kind of light from a bright object shines at you, causing you to squint your eyes. Its a totally normal thing. However, glare is more problematic for people who wear glasses, as light passes through the lenses before reaching their eyes. Due to the lens being made of plastic and forming a type of barrier between you and the light, the light will slightly disperse and appear brighter than it actually is. This will cause you to squint more than a normal non-glasses wearing person would. See the image below of how light looks like through a pair of glasses with regular lenses.

Glare Free Lenses for Glasses — View without Anti Glare lenses and high light dispersion

Glare becomes an annoying problem at night time when we are dealing with all sorts of illuminated objects. Driving is especially difficult when the headlights of the oncoming traffic shines in your eyes and forces you to squint to see anything.

This is where Glare free lenses save the day. Or the night.

What are anti glare lenses

These are lenses for your glasses either made of a special material or coated with a special film that prevents the dispersion of light and therefore the glare problem we just talked about. They allow you to look at relatively bright objects like a normal person, without the squint, and make the world appear more natural through your glasses. There is an obvious benefit here.

Notice in the image below, the same view through a pair of glasses with the anti glare lens is a lot clearer as the dispersion of light is less. We can even see the design on the lamp next to the bright light source.

Glasses with anti glare lenses — View through anti-glare lenses, low light dispersion

Should you get anti glare lenses on your glasses

Yes. They make your viewing experience a whole lot more comfortable than the standard lenses do. Long term usage of the standard lenses would mean that you would be squinting your eyes almost all the time, causing strain on your eye muscles, and causing strain on your eyes themselves. And then you may need a stronger prescription. You know what else can strain your eyes; using a TV screen as a computer monitor. Click here to learn more about that.

So the next time you go buy a pair of glasses, always ask your optician to fit your frames with anti-glare lenses.

Why are Glare Free lenses expensive

I do not know. Apparently anything that adds value to your health and comfort is expensive. How much do anti-glare lenses cost at your local optical retailer?