However, Australia has some of the highest levels of UV radiation in the world (as specified by Cancer Council Australia). Did you know that your eyes are 10 times more sensitive to UV rays than your skin?

Is UV Protection necessary on our glasses?

Apart from premature aging, too much exposure to UV radiation can contribute to various eye conditions and diseases, including cataracts and pterygiums and cancer of the skin around the eye. There have also been links made with Macular Degeneration. UV protection is vital to protect our eyes and is available on clear spectacle lenses and is standard regulation for sunglasses lenses in Australia.

To protect yourself, we will always recommend having a UV coating on your spectacle and sunglass lenses.

Do I have to have sunglasses to protect me from UV Rays?

Short answer - no you don’t! Whilst tinted lenses with UV protection can give you optimal protection as far as cutting out glare as well as UV, we can offer you other solutions.

UV coatings are clear coatings which can be added to your prescription lenses.  Most of the anti-reflective lens coatings we offer also cut out UV light, both off the front and back surface of the lens. Our Crizal Forte UV coating and the newer, Crizal Sapphire UV coating, have an E-SPF (eye sun protection factor) rating of 35+.  This means that by wearing glasses with this coating, your eyes are 35 times better protected than without any glasses at all, earning the coating the endorsement of the Cancer Council of Australia.

It is also important to note that not all sunglasses are created equal. High end sunglass ranges like Maui Jim add extra anti-reflective UV coatings onto the back surface of their lenses as standard to help cut back on UV exposure, whereas other brands will not. If you need prescription sunglass lenses, we offer a back surface anti-reflection coating as an optional extra using another of the Crizal products, Crizal Sun UV.

How can our Optometrist help you?

During your regular examination your Optometrist will assess both the internal and external health of your eyes. By using the latest in diagnostic technology, Optos for ultra-wide retinal imaging and OCT to give a 3D scan of the back of the eye, your Optometrist can check for signs of eye disease and UV damage.

What can you do to protect your eyes and your vision?

Remember in the 80’s we were introduced to the Slip, Slop, Slap campaign from the Cancer Council (sorry I hope you haven’t got that ear worm jingle stuck in your brain like I have), in recent years they added Seek and Slide. Slip on clothing, Slop on some 30+ sunscreen, Slap on a hat, Seek shade when outdoors and Slide on a pair of sunglasses.

The Cancer Council encourages everyone, including children, to wear sunglasses that are:

• close fitting,
• wrap around (don’t allow too much light in on the sides),
• meet the Australian standards
• have a protection rating of 2, 3 or 4

Keep in mind, we should wear our sunglasses when it is sunny (high level of UV), and when it is cloudy (clouds don’t stop the UV rays) and in any situations where glare can be distracting and dangerous (light bouncing off road surfaces, like water, snow, sand and concrete). If you spend a lot of time outdoors we would recommend wearing sunglasses with a back-surface anti-reflection coating for optimal protection.

Prescription sunglasses should no longer be considered an indulgence; they should form part of our preventative health strategy ensuring we can have the best and clearest vision moving forward into our latter years. Either way consider having a good pair of sunglasses and or even if you are updating your everyday spectacles think about the extra benefits that you can get from having the latest coatings applied to the lenses.

Remember, we only get one set of eyes and we need to do all we can to protect them!

Naomi Arnold

Practice Manager