Photo courtesy of Rebecca Bollwitt on Flickr
Have you ever been shopping for new sunglasses and been asked, “what color lenses would you like?” If you look back over the past century, there have been many different colors of sunglass lenses that were popular. Back in the 1930’s, Ray-ban developed their B-15 brown lens to be used by US Airforce pilots. Followed up by the G-15 with grey-green sunglass lens, standard in the iconic Wayfarer in the 1950’s. In the 80’s, Vuarnet came out with the popular Px 2000 amber lens to increase contrast and the Px 5000 brown lens for extreme conditions of high mountains, glaciers and desert.
Revo – blue, Suncloud – red, what is the best color for your sunglass lenses?
The following is a guide to the benefits of different lens colors:
- Grey – most common lens color; this tint is considered neutral because it maintains true colors while decreasing light levels. Good for general outdoor activities.
- Green –works the same in any light condition; they can be used for just about any outdoor activity.
- Brown and Amber –causes some color distortion, but also increases contrast. These lenses filter out distortion caused by scattered blue light thus are great for activities like tennis, skiing, boating, high-altitude sports, or other sports where distance vision is important. This tint is also great for golf, as it highlights varying contrasts of green on the golf course.
- Yellow – like amber lenses, some color distortion, but increased contrast. Great for activities in lower light levels especially with changes from light to shadows. These are the lenses to choose when mountain biking, target shooting, skiing, playing tennis, or piloting an aircraft.
- Pink, Rose and Red –block blue light, thereby improving contrast. Very soothing to the eyes, they provide good visibility on the road. Great for sports like cycling and racing.
- Blue and Purple – a high contrast lens that reduces glare from visible white light. These lenses are endorsed by the USPTA for tennis professionals and linepersons in the sport because they block the glare from visible white light.
- Polarization – though not a tint, polarized lenses offer significant glare reduction. Glare caused by light reflected off flat surfaces including roadways, water and snow is blocked by polarized filters, whereas tints can only decrease light intensity. A polarized lens can be combined with nearly any lens color.
No matter what color lenses you choose, the most important feature of your sunglasses is UV protection. Be sure to ask for 100% UV 400 eye protection to decrease the risk of certain eye diseases including macular degeneration, cataracts, and pterygium. According to the American Optometric Association, to provide adequate protection for your eyes, sunglasses should:
- block out 99 to 100 percent of both UV-A and UV-B radiation;
- screen out 75 to 90 percent of visible light;
- be perfectly matched in color and free of distortion and imperfection
~ Steven Sage Hider, OD
California Optometric Association
http://eyehelp.org
http://www.coavision.org
COA Vision 