Is Anti Reflective Coating Really Necessary for Glasses?

When you’re ready to pick out your latest pair of glasses, there are plenty of factors that play into your decision. You want a pair of frames that looks beautiful on your face and lenses that allow you to see clearly–not to mention a pair of glasses that is within your budget! As you’re choosing your lenses and checking out all the options, you’ll probably find yourself wondering, “Is that really necessary?” When it comes time to choose whether or not you want to have anti reflective coating put on your glasses, there are several factors you’ll want to consider.

What is Anti Reflective Coating?

Anti reflective coating is a thin layer applied to your lenses after they’ve been cut and shaped to your satisfaction. It prevents reflections from bouncing off of your lenses–both inside them, where they might interfere with your vision, and outside them. Anti reflective coating has a number of benefits, and many optometrists will encourage you to add it to your lenses in order to get the maximum benefit out of your glasses.

Why Opt for Anti Reflective Coating?

While useful, anti reflective coating is also expensive. Is it really worth the amount you’ll pay for it? Anti reflective coating offers several clear benefits that make it well worth the investment for many people.

Anti reflective coating makes night driving easier. At night, you’ll be more likely to notice reflections in your glasses and how they interfere with your vision–especially if you’re driving. Headlights bouncing off your windshield cause enough problems, especially when you’re driving in the rain. Another set of reflections bouncing off of your glasses can make that problem even more severe. With anti reflective coating, on the other hand, your glasses will be as clear as if you were looking out of your eyes alone.

Anti reflective coating reduces eye strain while working at the computer. Does your job require you to spend a large percentage of your day behind a computer screen? If so, anti reflective coating can reduce eye strain and make it easier for you to focus on your work, rather than on the headache building behind your eyes. It will prevent your computer’s light from reflecting onto your glasses, interfering with your vision and making it harder for you to do your job.

Anti reflective coating lets people focus on your eyes, not on your glasses. There’s nothing worse than the feeling that people are unable to see the real you past your lenses. Reflections in your glasses can make it impossible to see your eyes, so that even some of your closest friends don’t even know what your eye color really is. When you add anti reflective coating, on the other hand, your eyes will be as clear as day behind your lenses. Staring into the eyes of your date? Check. Making eye contact during an important presentation? Check. There are many advantages to having your eyes fully visible behind your lenses, and anti reflective coating allows you to enjoy all of them.

Anti-reflective lenses can lead to clearer vision. Reflections interfere with your ability to see naturally out of your glasses–often in ways that you don’t even notice at first. When you add anti-reflective coating to your lenses, however, you avoid those reflections and allow light to pass more freely through your lenses. This means sharper vision all the way around, making it a critical addition to your glasses.

The Polycarbonate Lens Difference

If you have polycarbonate lenses or high-index lenses, you’ll find yourself needing anti reflective coating more than someone who has a regular plastic lens. These lenses, in general, reflect more light than traditional plastic lenses, which means that opting to do without the anti reflective coating will cause more problems for the wearer throughout the lifetime of the lens. Individuals who have aspheric lenses in their glasses will also find that anti reflective coating is a highly practical method of improving their vision.

Not Just Behind the Computer

You know that anti reflective coating will reduce eye strain when you’re behind a computer, but that isn’t something that you do particularly often. Is it really worth the investment for anti reflective coating if you don’t often use a computer? Anti reflective coating can actually reduce your eye strain in a variety of environments, whether you’re reading, watching a movie, or taking in a concert. If you wear your glasses on a regular basis, adding anti reflective coating to your lenses is well worth the money spent.

Anti Reflective Coating on Your Sunglasses

Anti reflective coating on your glasses is an important choice. You may find yourself wondering, however, whether or not it’s worth the investment to put them on your sunglasses, too. The most important aspect of anti reflective coating on your sunglasses is what it accomplishes when the sun is behind you. In normal sunglasses, the sun may bounce off of your lenses, reflecting back into your eyes and causing further eye strain. When you add anti reflective coating, you reduce that problem and the potential damage to your eyes along with it. Typically, anti reflective coating is only put on the back side of the lenses of sunglasses, since it is intended to reduce that specific type of glare. There is no aesthetic or vision benefit to placing anti reflective coating on the front lens of your sunglasses, since your eyes are already obscured by dark glasses and your vision is already protected due to the coating on the sunglasses.

So Is It Worth It?

If you’re still on the fence about whether or not anti reflective coating is the right choice for your latest pair of lenses, ask yourself several key questions that will help determine whether or not it’s the right choice for you.

• Can you afford anti reflective coating for your lenses? Ultimately, you’re going to have to decide whether or not your budget will support adding anti reflective coating to your lenses. Take a look at whether or not you can afford to make this investment.
• How often do you wear your glasses? Someone who wears their glasses all day, every day may consider anti reflective coating a more worthwhile investment than, for example, someone who prefers to wear contacts and who only wears their glasses for a few minutes before climbing into bed at night.
• Under what conditions do you wear your glasses? Sure, you swap back and forth between glasses and contacts fairly frequently, but when do you really wear your glasses? Are you likely to wear them while you’re sitting behind a computer screen or while you’re driving at night? If so, anti reflective coating may be well worth the investment.
• What type of lenses do you have? If you have polycarbonate lenses, aspheric lenses, or any of the other types of lenses that cause higher levels of reflections, anti reflective coating will be well worth investment for your lenses.
• How important is it to you that people are able to see your eyes? If you work in a profession where eye contact is important or you want to be able to really connect with the people around you, you may find that investing in anti reflective lenses is the best possible choice for you.
• What activities do you do on a regular basis? Are you out in the sun or outside at night frequently? Do you enjoy reading? Do you work or game regularly on your computer? All of these activities may lend themselves more significantly to glasses with anti reflective coating.
• Do you find yourself getting headaches on a regular basis, especially when you wear glasses without anti reflective coating? If you’re engaging in activities that could cause increased eye strain, especially activities that could place strain on your eyes due to reflections on your glasses, anti reflective coating can help reduce those headaches and make your life easier.

The technology required to put anti reflective coating on glasses has advanced significantly over the past several years. Now, it’s possible to allow more than 99% of the available light in the area to pass through your glasses, making your vision clearer and sharper than ever while simultaneously offering you all of the great benefits that come along with anti reflective coating. While expensive, this simple addition to your lenses can have immense benefits for your vision.

Is anti reflective coating a necessity on your new glasses? No. If your budget won’t extend to this addition or if you don’t wear your glasses very often, you may find that it’s not worth the investment for you. On the other hand, the advantages of anti reflective coating on your glasses make it a wise choice for most individuals who wear their glasses on a regular basis.

Are you ready to purchase new glasses, whether you’re ready to dive in with anti reflective coating or not? If so, contact us today to learn how we can ensure that you have the best possible pair of glasses for all of your vision needs.