Introduction
Colored lenses are ideal for anyone who leads an active lifestyle, including athletes and outdoor enthusiasts. Tinted lenses not only make a fashion statement or serve a purely cosmetic purpose, they can be useful in filtering light and protecting the eyes. Lens colors and tints can improve visibility and contrast, provide a therapeutic effect, block harmful radiation, and make vision more comfortable., Some colored lenses may help with various eye disorders by enhancing contrast.
Colored lenses offer different benefits because they filter light differently, i.e., not all colored lenses are right for every occasion. Different tints are better suited to serve particular purposes, such as improving visual acuity, blocking light, reducing glare, distorting colors, or enhancing the colors one sees, making them more vivid. Although one may admire a particularly tint color, it may be unsuitable for their lifestyle. The right lens color should enhance one’s depth perception and minimize eye fatigue without affecting visual acuity.
Different Tints Guide
It’s essential to remember that UV protection matters more than color. A colorless UV-absorbing coating on lenses enables adequate protection. Thus, whatever color the lenses, one must ensure they provide 100 percent UV protection.
The standard lens tints include:
Gray or black
These are neutral tints that provide accurate color perception and are ideal for everyday use. The colors reduce glare and brightness, which offers anti-fatigue benefits. It makes them multi-purpose and great for sunny or overcast weather. They are suitable for outdoor activities and sports such as running, driving, cycling, baseball, or golf.
Green
Green colored lenses reduce glare and provide high contrast and sharp vision by filtering some blue light. The tint reduces eye strain in bright sunlight and is suitable for everyday use, including rainy and sunny weather conditions. The color works well for precision sports like golf, tennis, and baseball.
Blue or purple
The tints eliminate sun glare and enhance color perception. The colors also help one to see contours more clearly while protecting reflective surfaces, such as snow. They complement most skin tones and are ideal in foggy and misty weather. The lens tints are best suited for sports like hockey and cricket.
Pink, Rose or Red
The colors enhance contrast by blocking the blue light. They soothe the eyes and are the most comfortable for longer wear times. The tints provide adequate visibility on the road by enhancing depth perception and detail, making them particularly useful in snow. The colors are popular among computer users because they reduce eyestrain and glare. They are also suitable for many outdoor and sports activities, such as racing, skiing and snowboarding.
Amber/Brown
These performance tints heighten contrast and visual acuity, particularly against blue and green backgrounds like green landscapes and the sky. The glare-reducing shades also block blue light, which helps brighten vision on cloudy days. Amber-colored lenses can again comfort the eyes in sunny conditions. Amber and brown tints are ideal for golf, hunting, cycling, baseball, fishing and water sports.
Gold, orange or yellow
The tints are ideal for indoor sports or moderate to low level light conditions outdoors. They heighten contrast, provide excellent depth perception, and make objects appear sharper by blocking out blue light. However, yellow, orange, or gold-colored lenses can also cause color distortion. They are better suited for activities/sports such as shooting, hunting, cycling, tennis, indoor basketball, handball, skiing, snowmobiling, snowboarding, etc.
Melanin
Melanin pigment tints may help to protect the eyes from aging associated with sun exposure.
Eye Exam
It’s essential to schedule an eye exam with an eye specialist before purchasing colored eyeglasses. A little change in the patient’s glasses prescription or a small amount of refractive error can make a significant difference in providing the most precise and most comfortable vision. The specialist may guide on the best color shade for the patient and the available options, including photochromic lenses. S/he can also help people in need of protection against blue-light spectrums or high-energy visible light (HEV), causing retinal damage.
