Here’s What Coatings You Really Need on Your New Pair of Glasses

Buying glasses can seem strangely like buying a new car: prices are often hidden from you, they cost more than they’re entitled to, and a whole bunch of mysterious upgrades are forced on you. Coatings. I’m talking about coatings: the scratch and glare protection you can add to your lenses to make your glasses and your vision even more powerful. At first glance, this sounds like common sense. (For someone who once cleaned their glasses of a hollow shirt with concrete spray that acted like sandpaper , anti-scratch coatings seem like a good idea.) But do these coatings really work, and do you really need them ?

Scratch resistant coatings

It’s just a clear coating applied to the front and back of your lenses that helps protect them from scratches and abrasions as you fiddle around with your friction-filled life. Almost all modern lenses are fairly scratch resistant in their basic form, but the word “resistant” doesn’t mean “impervious” so adding extra protection is always a good idea. If you are given the option to add extra scratch protection, it’s usually worth it because it extends the life of your glasses.

Recommendation: hard yes.

Anti-reflective coatings

This coating reduces the amount of light reflected by the lenses. This can help improve the clarity of what you’re looking at, especially computer screens that illuminate your eyes, and improve night vision, especially when you’re driving. Contrary to what you may have heard, they don’t actually do much to light glare, like when someone hits you with their high beams on the highway. However, not everyone needs AR coverage – if you don’t drive much at night and work in front of a screen a little, you may never notice the need for it.

Recommendation: Depends on your lifestyle.

UV Coatings

Ultraviolet (UV) light is the power that the sun shines on us every day – it’s the same beam of light that blesses us with sunburn and eventually skin cancer. So as you can imagine, it’s not good for your eyes either, which is why most sunglasses advertise some degree of UV protection. Keep in mind, however, that your standard uncoated spectacle lenses already block most of the UV rays – the coating only boosts protection up to 100%.

Recommendation: Not a bad idea, but only necessary if you spend a lot of time in the sun.

Fog Coatings

This coating aims to reduce or eliminate the dangerous moment when you go out into cold weather and your goggles immediately turn opaque with water vapor, or when you put on a mask and your own breath turns against you. You can apply an anti-fog coating to your lenses, but this is not always available if you have a complex prescription or other coatings on your lenses and it will only last about 1-2 years . You may be better off just using one of the many wipes, sprays, and gels available to help prevent fogging, or simply deal with occasional inconveniences.

Recommendation: Probably skip.

Blue light blockers

All the screens we stare at all day emit “blue light” at us, a frequency of visible light that has been shown to have a negative impact on our overall health . So getting a coating that filters out that blue light might seem like a good idea. But there really isn’t any evidence that blue light coverage does you any good – most of the problems we have with our eyes after a long day behind a screen have nothing to do with blue light. This coating won’t do you any harm, but it’s unlikely to do you any good.

Recommendation: pass.

There are other coatings you can get, such as a mirror coating that will darken your lenses while keeping them opaque so people can’t see your eyes (but don’t block light from entering your eyes like sunglasses do) or transitional coatings. , which darken the lenses in response to light, turning your glasses into sunglasses. These covers are just a personal choice – if you want cool color lenses or hate wearing separate sunglasses to switch between them, go for it.

After all, you don’t need any of these coatings – your glasses will do the job without them – and the only coating that works for everyone is an anti-scratch coating. Otherwise, think about how you live and how you use your glasses before shelling out for them.

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