What Are Polarized Lenses?

Posted December 28, 2022

Polarized lenses are one of those things added to eyewear as a sort of bonus or extra feature, but for many people, they’re totally essential when it comes to getting the most out of their lenses. But are they all hype — or what do polarized lenses actually do? 

 

Polarized lenses are basically anti-glare lenses, typically used with sunglasses. They help to get rid of the blinding glare you get from the sun if you’re doing things like driving straight into the sunset or afternoon sun. They also help enhance contrast and make the objects and people you’re looking at much crisper (basically, it’s like a little vision boost in a pair of glasses). 

 

How it works is that a specific chemical is applied to lenses to help them filter light more by lining up the molecules inside to block light. For sunglasses, this means that the resulting filter creates a vertical opening for light waves to get through and blocks light coming through horizontal light waves — a.k.a. the stuff that produces annoying glare. This means the images you see through polarized lenses might be darker, but the benefits are often good enough to merit the trade-off. 

 

While you might pay a little bit of an upcharge to get these non-standard lenses fitted to your frames, it can be worth it for people for whom top-notch vision isn’t an option but a necessity. This includes bus and Uber drivers, people working outside, and anyone who’s spending a ton of time outside in the sun. 

 

If you’re interested in exploring polarized lenses more, we’d love to open that conversation with you — a lot of people say that they help improve the clarity of their vision, and that their eyes are less fatigued at the end of the day after hours spent in the sun! Reach out to our team to learn more about polarized lenses and we can set up an appointment to talk about if they’re right for you.