How to Remove the Lighting Glare from Glasses

Glare in your lenses can be very distracting and can make driving at night difficult; it can also cause headaches and stress. Lighting glare from glasses can distort and hide your eyes and look cosmetically unappealing. The glare can come from artificial light sources, such as overhead lights or computer screens, and from natural sunlight. Removing glare from your glasses can be accomplished in several ways.

Instructions

• 1

  Add a light tint to your lenses to help with glare indoors. If you are ordering new lenses, tinting is available in glass or plastic. Discuss which option is best for your individual prescription with your eye doctor or optician. If you are having glare problems with a current pair of glasses, it is possible to have a tint added to plastic lenses, but coloring cannot be put on glass lenses once they are made.
  Take your glasses to your eye care professional or a retail optical store and ask to have a light color added. Adding a light gray or brown tint is best and is beneficial for reducing mild to moderate glare. Keep in mind that a light tint for indoors will not be dark enough to use for outdoor glare.

• 2

  Order a special anti-reflective coating (AR) from your eye care professional to reduce glare. AR coating is also referred to as an anti-glare coating. This type of coating can only be applied to new lenses. AR coating is a clear, layered, metal-oxide coating that helps reduce glare on lenses, letting people see your eyes instead of reflected light off of the lens. Anti-glare coatings are especially helpful with night driving.

• 3

  Ask your optician for a photochromic medical application lens if you have an extreme sensitivity to glare. Regular photochromic lenses change from dark to light, but only slightly reduce glare. Specialty prescription colors of photochromic lenses can be ordered to help you see more comfortably if you have unusual glare problems.

• 4

  Consider polarized lenses, a special type of filtered lens that blocks reflected light and reduces glare. Polarized lenses are available in glass or plastic lenses, but since they are part of the lens, the filter cannot be applied to previously worn lenses. Polarized lenses are ideal for outdoors and are especially good for driving and boating, but in some instances they may not be recommended. Some liquid crystal displays (LCD) are not readable through polarized lenses.