Sunglasses for many can be a fashion statement, which just like regular glasses, boast a variety of fun frame designs as well as functional lenses. However sunglasses often also offer increased protection from the sun, and with summer approaching fast, now’s a great time to make sure your eyes are properly protected from the sun harmful rays.

Taking care of eyes starts with a regular eye exam, but it doesn’t stop there. When you expose your eyes to the sunlight there are a few additional precautions that you should keep in mind.

UV Protection – Many sunglasses offer protection against 99% or even 100% of UVA and UVB rays. Unless your sunglasses offer a very strong level of protection, as indicated above, we strongly considering an alternative.

• UVA or Ultraviolet A (long wave, 400 – 315 nm) is a type of electromagnetic radiation which is commonly found in sunlight and black lights. About 95% of the ultraviolet radiation which reaches the earth is classified as UVA.
• UVB or Ultraviolet B (medium wave, 315 – 280 nm) is mostly blocked by the ozone layer, unlike UVA which is hardly affected by ozone. High intensity UVB light is hazardous to the eyes and should be avoided, as if too much UV light is absorbed the cornea, lens and retina can be damaged.
• UVC or Ultraviolet C – is not a concern, because the waves are blocked by the atmosphere.

Lens Colors vary widely and are used for specific reasons. Rather than selecting a cool looking lens color, consider why lens colors are used and what they actually accomplish.

• Grey – Does not alter the color of viewed objects, thus providing the most natural color vision.
• Brown – Brown lenses, similar to Grey lenses do not alter colors significantly. However, by blocking a large percentage of blue light, brown lenses are able to enhance contrast of viewed items, and tend to give a warmer appearance to certain colors.
• Amber – Do not provide as much brightness protection, but are ideal for snow sports. They block nearly all blue light which greatly enhances contrast. However, amber lenses may cause color distortion and may not be desirable for normal day to day use.
• Pink/Orange/Rose/Blue – These colors are available for fashion sunglasses, typically because they cause severe color distortion and are usually undesirable for normal every day use.

For Contact Lenses Wearers – Although contact lenses often offer UV Protection, the fact that they do not cover your entire eye means that they are not an effective solution for UV Protection by themselves. For complete UV protection, sunglasses with adequate protection should always be worn over contact lenses when enjoying the outdoors.

Farsightedness, or hyperopia, is a condition where a person can see objects far away but has difficulty seeing objects close to them. Farsightedness can make reading or computer work difficult, and will make working with small objects a chore.

Because nearsightedness (miopia) is more common than farsightedness, most pre-school eye tests overlook this condition when having children examine charts from a distance. One of the best ways as a parent to determine if your child may be having difficulty reading, is if they squint, strain to read or to see close up.

Farsightedness is usually the result of the eyeball being shaped slightly shorter than nomral, which causes the light entering the eye to focus farther back, behind the retina, which causes blurring.

Hyperopia tends to run in the family and persons are born with the condition. There are a few different options available to those who suffer from farsightedness.

Having poor eye sight puts one at extreme disadvantage. It makes dealing with everyday life more difficult and time consuming, and can make reading a chore. So how were people able to deal with the loss of vision before glasses.

The first historical reference to magnification was made in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs around the 5th centry BC which depict a single curved lens. In the 1st centry AD, Seneca the Younger, a tutor of Emperor Nero of Rome, wrote “Letters, however small and indistinct, are seen enlarged and more clearly through a globe or glass filled with water”. The Emperor Nero mentioned using a emerald as a make shift corrective lens in order to watch the gladiatorial games.

Teens may prefer to wear contact lenses over glasses for many reasons. Many teens are self-conscious, and may feel more attractive without glasses. Contact lenses may help them feel greater self-esteem and be more at ease around others. If they play sports, standard glasses are not recommended, thus requiring a pair of sports glasses, or contact lenses which is a popular alternative.

How old do you have to be to wear contact lenses?

While there is no age requirement for wearing contact lenses, we generally recommend parents wait until their child is between the ages of 11 and 14. The primarily concern regarding age is to make sure the child is old enough to responsibly take proper care of their contact lenses.

The best way to prevent glaucoma, a common cause of blindness, is to have a regular eye exam. During a comprehensive eye exam, your optometrist will check the intraocular pressure (IOP) of your eyes, as having high intraocular pressure can lead to damage to your optic nerve and can eventually lead to blindness. What if there was a way to improve the accuracy of checking eye press by monitoring our eyes on a more frequent basis?

The London Eye Hospital has developed a new contact lens, titled Triggerfish, which when worn will monitor eye pressure over a 24-hour period, which they hope will improve detection and allow earlier treatment. When worn the Triggerfish sensor is able to create and store a detailed graph, showing how the patient’s IOP has been fluctuating over a 24-hour period, which can supply doctors with the data that they need to diagnose whether the patient has glaucoma with much greater accuracy after the lens is removed and analyzed.

More good news for contact lens wearers who have an astigmatism in one or both eyes. On March 1st, Acuvue (of the Vistakon Division of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care) celebrated the 25th anniversary of the first disposable soft contact lens, by launching a brand new contact lens. The newly designed lenses, called 1-Day Acuvue Moist Brand Contact Lenses for Astigmatism, are a daily disposable soft toric contact for those who suffer from an astigmatism, and offer some significant benefits over previous lenses for contact wearers suffering from astigmatism.

Have you even taken your vision for granted?

For millions living in developing countries an eye exams and contacts or glasses are considered a luxury, which is why researchers at EyeNetra, a MIT spinoff company, are developing a device which in essence turns everyday cell phones into a mobile eye exam machine.

“Our goal, really, is to empower millions and millions around the world by bringing eye care to people’s homes in a way that was never possible before,” says David Schafran of EyeNetra.

To that end, they’ve developed a $2 scope which can be clipped onto a smart phone. The patient looks through the eyepiece and follows the colored lines which appear on the screen. A software application (or app) is installed on the phone which enables the phone to translate the patient’s responses into a measurement of “refractive error,” which optometrists can use to create a pair of glasses.