Polarised Lenses Explained
Polarised lenses can be used in sunglasses to offer additional protection for your eyes to help avoid strain. They can also help to reduce reflection and glare from your sunglasses to improve vision quality. They are particularly effective for activities that involve exposure to reflective surfaces such as snow, water, or even windows. If you're an avid skier or someone who spends considerable time enjoying water sports, polarised are a must to ensure you can enjoy perfect vision.
Sunglasses with polarised lenses
Polarised lenses can be added to any of our sunglasses, adding an extra dimension to their use. The addition of polarised lenses costs £35 per pair of glasses, making it a cost effective choice for the advantages they bring.
Eliminating glare
Polarised lenses are designed to effectively reduce glare by filtering out horizontally oriented light waves that create reflections and intense glare off flat surfaces such as water, roads, and glass.
They contain a special filter that only allows vertically polarised light to pass through while blocking horizontally polarised light. When bright, horizontal light waves bounce off surfaces, they become polarised in a specific direction, leading to blinding glare.
Polarised lenses align their filter to counteract this polarisation, allowing only the vertically polarised light to reach your eyes. As a result, glare is significantly diminished, enhancing visual comfort and clarity, reducing eye strain, and providing better visibility, especially in outdoor activities like driving, boating, or skiing.
Types of polarised lenses
Lenses are available in varying degrees and methods of polarisation. The majority of budget polarised sunglasses utilise a thin film that is applied to one side of the lens. More premium lenses typically incorporate a film that is sandwiched between two layers of lens material, offering protection against scratches and abrasion. Lenses that incorporate a higher density film will offer a great level of polarisation that those with a thinner film.
Generally, polarized sunglasses appear no different from their non-polarized counterparts. Although denser films tend to result in darker lenses, the lens colour itself does not influence the level of polarisation it offers.
A pair of sunglasses with a very dark hue and a light film will not reduce glare more effectively than a lighter-shaded pair with a denser film. The lens colour is also customisable, with polarised lenses available in shades like grey, brown, green, or other colours, although they cannot be made completely clear.
How do polarised lenses work?
The magic behind polarised lenses lies in their ingenious design. They feature a lamination with vertical stripes that acts as a filter, allowing only vertically polarised light to reach your eyes. This selective filtering mechanism efficiently eliminates glare since horizontally polarised light waves are unable to pass through this polarised barrier. The result is a remarkably improved visual experience, free from the discomfort and blinding effect of glare.
Can polarised lenses be fitted to any frames?
Polarised lenses can be fitted to any of our sunglasses to take your sunglasses to the next level. To add polarised lenses to your order you can select the "polarised lenses" option during checkout - it couldn't be easier.
Find out more about polarised lenses in our dedicated polarised lenses blog. If you need further assistance, or would like to know a little more about polarised lenses and how they can enhance your new sunglasses, get in touch with us today!
Polarised sunglasses vs normal sunglasses
Both types of sunglasses offer great protection against bright light and UV rays, but polarised lenses will help to block blinding glare. Polarised sunglasses offer a greater level of vision clarity, comfort, and colour contrast while also blocking all harmful UVA and UVB rays.