Progressive Lens Sunglasses
What are progressive sunglasses?
Regardless of your lifestyle, prescription sunglasses are highly recommended for correcting your vision whilst simultaneously protecting your eyes.
Before deciding on the right pair, it’s best to understand what your progressive lens prescription means, the different lens add-ons, and the best frame options.
Firstly, progressive lenses have three different prescriptions within one lens – near, intermediate, and far.
They sit in different parts of the lens so when you look through the appropriate area, you can see clearly at all distances.
Progressive lenses eliminate the need to constantly switch between your glasses. This makes them perfect for your sunglasses.
Imagine you’re out gardening, going for a drive, or soaking up the rays whilst reading a book. With progressive lenses, all of these tasks are possible with one pair of frames.
Why should you wear progressive sunglasses?
A benefit to wearing sunglasses with progressive lenses is you don’t need to carry your reading glasses, distance vision glasses, as well as your sunglasses for outside tasks and activities.
Wearing your progressive lenses throughout the day will also help you to adjust to these lenses faster if they are new.
Prescription sunglasses protect your eyes as well as correct your vision, offering UV protection, and eliminating glare and eye strain in both sunny and overcast weather conditions.
All while being a fashionable accessory all throughout the year.
Lens options for progressive sunglasses
You can add more than just progressive lenses to ensure you’re getting the most out of your frames.
There are a variety of lens options like UV protection, tinting, polarization, as well as scratch-resistant, anti-glare, and anti-reflective coatings.
Let’s discover some of the options for your progressive sunglasses.
UV protection
Whether it’s sunny or cloudy, the sun emits harmful UV rays which can be too strong for our eyes to filter and can lead to eye health issues.
To combat this, it’s important to wear sunglasses with UV protection. There are 5 different UV filter categories.
With 0 blocking 3-20% of UV rays up to category 4 which blocks 92-97% of UV rays.
Tinting
Adding tint to your progressive sunglasses provides many benefits, more than just style and UV protection.
Tinting can reduce glare, and enhance contrast and depth perception to enhance your vision.
Green lenses are most protective against UV and blue light, and are especially great for bright conditions.
Brown lenses are another strong option for progressives, providing UV protection and enhanced contrast and depth.
A pair with gray lenses are great for everyday use and significantly reduce light.
Your lifestyle and how much time you spend outside will determine which tint is best for your progressive sunglasses.
DID YOU KNOW?
Red or pink-tinted lenses are perfect for racing, skiing, and winter sports because they enhance details and improve your depth perception.
Polarization
Polarized lenses block the horizontal blinding glare from the sun which causes you to squint.
This benefits you especially during activities like driving, where there are higher chances of sudden blinding moments.
Colors appear clearer and you can experience better visual clarity as this lens coating reduces bright sunlight.
If you’re an avid lover of outdoor sports, golf, or time by the water such as fishing, polarized progressive lenses will provide greater visual comfort.
Scratch-resistant coating
Adding a scratch-resistant coating to your progressive glasses enhances visual clarity and lens durability. Economically, they will also save you money in the long term.
Scratch resistance and durability are extremely beneficial for sunglasses because they’re exposed to the elements.
You could be engaging in physical activity or sports, so the chance of damage is higher.
Disclaimer: While this coating cannot guarantee complete scratch prevention, it offers a substantial level of protection and can significantly enhance the durability of your lenses.
Best frame shapes for progressive lens sunglasses
When deciding on what frame style to buy, it’s essential to keep in mind that your progressive glasses need to fit three prescriptions.
Firstly, the ideal lens height is 28 – 34mm, so styles that are too wide or narrow will be less comfortable.
The best frame shapes for progressive lenses are round, oval, and square. These frame shapes have a deeper lens area which allows you to transition between each prescription seamlessly.
Wearing well-suited frames will enhance visual clarity and comfort.
Progressive lenses work best when very close to your eyes. Round and oval styles typically sit snug on the bridge of your nose, which is why they’re such a good choice for progressive lenses.
As for what to avoid, you’re best to steer clear of aviators, oversized, and narrow frames.
Aviators and narrow frames can cut off the near distance prescription at the bottom of the lens and oversized styles have too much lens space.
This affects where you need to look through the lens and can result in discomfort or distorted vision.
If you feel you need more guidance on how to choose the right sunglasses or lens options for your progressive lenses, take a look at our Lens Hub or Optical Center.
Alternatively, you can reach out to one of our certified opticians for help.
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