If you are someone who doesn’t spend more than an hour in total looking at screens like TV, laptops, and phones, then you probably don’t have much use of anti-glare glasses.
But for people who spend countless hours on their digital devices both for work and pleasure, they shouldn’t miss out on the benefits of anti glare glasses.
Also known as anti-reflective glasses, these glasses have evolved over a decade with the primary aim of reducing your eye strain and helping you see better.
How Do Anti Glare Glasses Work?
When you see something, a part of the light can hit the back of the lenses of your spectacles and bounce into the eye. This event can even result in you seeing your own reflection in your glasses.
Anti-glare coatings or anti-reflective coatings help avoid this. The hard thin film coated on your lenses uses the law of refraction so that the two reflections on each side of this film cancel out, removing glare in the process.
Let me explain it a bit more for tech nerds.
You see, the material used in air coatings has an index of refraction that’s somewhere between that of air and glass. Therefore, the intensity of the light that gets reflected from the outer surface is nearly the same as the light reflected from the inner surface. Visible light’s wavelength is such that it cancels out the two equal reflections, leaving you with no glare distracting you.
But why do we need to remove glare?
While no one wants to see their reflection in their glasses, when they try to look at something else, some added perks make anti-glare glasses worth it. Let’s check out these perks in comparison to regular glasses before we explain them in detail.
A Comparison – Anti Glare Glasses VS Regular Glasses
| Glasses With Anti-Reflective (AR) Coating | Regular Glasses Without AR Coating |
| Better visual clarity | Glare can interrupt vision |
| Less eye strain | Comparatively more risk of eye strain |
| Better appearance | Poor appearance |
| Improved sports performance | Can damage sports performance |
| Provide some protection against UV and Blue light. | Does not protect against UV and Blue light, at all. |
What Are The Benefits Of Anti Glare Glasses?
Only the prominent perks of these glasses can fruitfully answer your question of – are anti glare glasses worth it?
What makes anti glare glasses worth it are the following 5 benefits:
- Better visual clarity:
When working on your busy job, or doing things like driving, reading, watching a movie, or video calling your loved ones, the last thing you want is glare from your lenses, distracting you and interrupting your vision.
Not only is this irritating, but it will ruin the experience you have while doing your task and stay with you as an annoyance with your memory.
Why have such bad memories when you can have good ones? Anti-glare glasses are worth it for that reason. They help you do your tasks/enjoy your time without any visual annoyance. After all, you have better things to care about – better things that need the mental energy you would otherwise spend on getting irritated with glare.
- Less digital eye strain:
According to the American Optometric Association, using anti glare coating is a treatment option for digital eye strain, also known as computer vision syndrome. The syndrome presents symptoms like squinting, headaches, blurred vision, double vision, and dry eyes.
As a result, you experience irritation, along with poor productivity and poor focus at work. You can prevent all these problems by simply adding an anti-reflective coating to your lenses. There’s enough stress in our lives, why create some for the eyes?
- Better appearance:
Video calls with friends, family, and colleagues have increased to a significant extent in the last 2 years. All thanks to the corona-virus pandemic. Video call meetings are not a place where you can depend on your clothes to make an impression.
But your spectacles without an anti glare coating can ruin that impression. The glare reflecting off your glasses can distract the person you are on the video call with, as they won’t be able to make proper eye contact with you.
And you already know how important eye contact is for better communication. So, take charge of how you look, especially on video calls, by wearing anti-glare glasses.
- Improved performance in sports:
If you play sports like basketball, cricket, or golf, where you have to make quick calculations, as to where to push to the ball and when you can’t depend on glasses without an antireflective coating. The glare can be distracting and make you do wrong calculations.
Even sports like skiing, snowboarding, and fishing, need you to have a clear vision, which is not promised by anything other than anti glare glasses.
- Protection from UV and Blue light
It’s always better to have anti-UV and blue light blocking glasses if you wish to avoid the dangers of UV and blue light. These dangers can range from easy-to-avoid headaches and dry eyes to something as big as age-related macular degeneration or temporary blindness if you don’t treat it on time.
But if you don’t want to invest in those coatings, a simple pair of anti-glare glasses are your best choice.
Simple anti glare glasses are cheaper than the other two. They can block the harmful rays of the sun (UV) and that from the screens (blue light) to an extent. Thus, providing your eyes some comfort against them.
Do Anti Glare Glasses Work For Night Driving? Here’s The Bonus Benefit!
Apart from those five benefits mentioned above, anti glare glasses bring a bonus perk for you to cherish. It’s night driving!
It’s quite effective to use anti glare glasses for night driving. They help you see clearly in the night by allowing more light to pass through your lenses.
Plus, they prevent any glare from distracting you. The glare from street lights, traffic lights, or the headlights of the vehicle passing by can be distracting enough to cause accidents. These accidents can prove fatal because not just you, but other drivers around may also be facing the same glare problems and lack of clarity if they don’t use anti glare glasses.
Some people prefer to use anti glare glasses for driving during the day as well. It helps them keep the glare from the sun away so they can give all their attention to driving perfectly.
The Cost – How Much Is Anti Glare On Glasses?
According to Vision center, anti glare coating on glasses can cost around $20 additional to the original cost of your lenses. That seems to be the only disadvantage of choosing to wear anti glare glasses.
However, many eyewear brands provide AR coatings for free with every pair of lenses. After all, each of us deserves better vision and less eye strain.
Takeaway
So, are anti glare glasses worth it? For sure, they are!
Anti glare glasses not only save you some embarrassing looks, but help against digital eye strain, UV, and blue light as well. They help keep your productivity at its peak and increase your sports performance.
It’s a great choice to wear anti glare glasses for night driving as they prevent the risk of road accidents.
Thankfully, anti glare glasses are freely available by many premium eyewear brands. But even if you have to buy them, they aren’t expensive enough to burn your pockets.
No wonder anti glare glasses are worth it! It’s time now you enjoy these perks by buying a pair for yourself.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login