Anti-Glare Coating for Prescription Safety Glasses

When you purchase a pair of standard prescription eyeglasses, typically the optometrist or lab offers you a range of choices in additional coatings which can be applied to your new lenses: scratch-resistance, anti-fog, UV protection, and mirrored coatings are all options.

Prescription Safety Glasses with Anti-Glare Coating

Another one is an anti-glare, or anti-reflective, coating, to reduce reflections on your lenses (among other things, which are described below). Many people opt for it. Perhaps you have, and enjoy the benefits it provides in everyday life.

What you might not realize is that anti-reflective coatings are also available for prescription safety glasses, and such a coating will deliver the same perks in your safety eyewear as it does in your everyday prescription eyewear. Let’s examine those perks:

• Reduction in reflected light – Lenses, especially flatter varieties of lenses, pick up reflections just as any clear, shiny plastic or glass surface does. This translates to your eyes as distracting mirror images or light flashes. The primary benefit of an anti-reflective coating is to greatly reduce these reflections.
• Better low-light vision – by reducing reflections, an anti-reflective coating actually allows more light to pass through rather than bounce off the surface of the lenses. This reduces the halo and starburst effects that sudden, strong light sources (headlights, spotlights, streetlights) can cause in an otherwise dark environment. If you wear your safety glasses for night work or in low-light conditions like inside a warehouse with segmented artificial lighting, a minor improvement in vision may be noticed.
• Increase contrast – Another “side effect” of less reflective lenses is better contrast, or an ability to better differentiate between foreground and background objects. An anti-reflective coating will give you a slight increase in visual acuity.
• Easier use of monitors – Monitors are a strong source of glare. If you work around computer screens, television screens, inventory readers, or any other source of internally-lit monitor, the reduction in glare from an anti-reflective coating should be particularly noticeable.
• Less eye fatigue – Even though we don’t realize it, our eyes work hard in overcoming glare and reflection. Over the course of a day, this adds up, and is often leads to late-day eye fatigue and irritation.
• Better appearance – Ever look at someone wearing glasses and see only a reflection so strong it appears as if they are wearing mirrored lenses? When reflections are removed from your lenses, others can see your eyes more clearly.

Note, however, that anti-reflective coatings are known to attract dust and dirt, so they are not recommended for extremely dusty or particulate-heavy areas. Also, lenses with an anti-reflective coating should not be wiped down dry; wet them first before cleaning.

Give your eyes a rest while you work. Visit Rx Safety and shop our wide selection of safety glasses, most of which are available with an optional anti-reflective coating.