High Index Lenses

Three Important Reasons Why Your High Index Lenses Need an Anti-Reflective Coating

The lens material used in high index eyeglasses bends light more efficiently than standard lens materials. This means that high index lenses require less material to do its job of correcting your vision, and results in thinner and therefore lighter lenses. However, this light bending property also comes with a less desirable one: high index lenses reflect more light than ordinary lens materials.

Perhaps you might wonder what difference a little reflected light is going to make and whether it is worth the added cost of an anti-reflective coating. As it turns out, this reflected light has some important consequences. Here are three potentially serious problems eliminated by anti-reflective coatings:

Night Driving

Night driving is full of hazards, most of which are due to the lack of natural light. You are traveling at high speeds while guided by two narrow beams of light. This makes seeing details such as pedestrians on the road difficult. Glare from other lights, especially from the headlights of oncoming cars make the problem worse. The light that reaches your eyes first passes through your windshield, which generates glare depending on the condition and cleanliness of both its inside and outside surfaces.

Additional glare is added by your high index eyeglasses if they lack anti-reflective coatings. If it is raining, then any water streaking will add yet more glare. If you do any driving, it is best to eliminate all sources of glare, including what is coming from your eyeglasses. Clean eyeglasses an anti-reflective lens coating will greatly reduce this glare.

Eyestrain from Digital Devices

Eyestrain can happen to anyone who uses his or her eyes intensely over a long period of time. When the activity involves glare from night driving or prolonged staring at the screens of digital devices such as computers, laptops, and mobile devices, eyestrain is more likely to occur. Ignoring the problem can cause various temporary symptoms such as double vision, blurred vision, inability to focus, eye discomfort, and headache.

These symptoms interfere with your ability to drive safely at night, your work productivity in a job involving digital display screens, and your study and test taking abilities as a student. Frequent 20 second rest breaks are recommended for avoiding eyestrain. However, if your high index eyeglasses do not have an anti-reflective coating, you are not addressing a root cause of the problem, which of course, is glare.

Blue Light Exposure

The previous sections merely deal with the effects of simple glare. However, there is another culprit that causes eyestrain: blue light. While there is some disagreement over whether blue light damages the eyes, it is accepted that too much exposure causes eyestrain. Digital display screens put out blue light. This is why prolonged exposure to them is harder on the eyes than similar exposure to printed materials. Certain high-efficiency lights such as LEDs are increasingly used indoors and for night lights. The headlights of some cars and trucks also put out blue light. This compounds the harshness that night driving has on the eyes.

If you do a lot of night driving, work with digital displays, or work in areas illuminated with LED lighting, you might get an anti-reflective coating for your high index eyeglasses that also filters out blue light.

As you can see from the above points, an anti-reflective coating is well worth the extra cost. A traffic accident can be a life changing event, and the effects of eyestrain reduces your effectiveness at work, which may have long-term effects on your career. If you have questions about anti-reflective coatings for your high index glasses, or have inquiries about selecting the right glasses for your particular needs, please contact us.