How can I check if my sunglasses are REALLY UV coated?

Hello everyone and thanks for taking time to answer my question.

I live in southeast asia, where fake items and ripoff sunglasses are
everywhere.

My question is that if I find a nice sunglasses that the shop salesman
INSISTS are totally UVA/UVB protected, and he shows me the small cheap
sticker on the glass that says so, am I supposed to beleive him?

Is there anyway to check and see if the glasses are REALLY UV coated?

Can I buy UV coating off the shelf from someplace and apply it myself?

Is it possible to coat my clear white subscription glasses with UV
coat or are they only for tinted sunglass?


Thank you very much for your kind answers.

Reza.

 

I seem to remember my ophthalmologist telling me something to that
effect back in the 1970's. He said something about how he didn't
recommend sunglasses--that your eyes would adjust to the sunlight
without them. These days, all I seem to ever read about is how
sunglasses are highly recommended for UV protection (even if you are
already wearing UV-protecting contact lenses).

As for the pupils being already adapted to do the work that sunglasses
do, I suppose that is analogous to the job your skin is supposed to do
in protecting you from the sun. Human skin may have evolved UV
protection mechanisms over hundreds of thousands of years (pigment
response to sunlight, etc.), but I don't think many people would argue
that you are better off without sunscreen than with it.

Just my $0.02--feel free to ignore it.

Lothar

 

I've been involved in the production of TanOptic sunglasses - designed
so you will get a tan. We had make special batches of lenses without
uv-blocking agent. (For the TanOptic specific lens we then added
uv-blocker but only to the central zone of the lens).

UV-blocking and uv-stickers as a selling point and a reason to charge
more is ridiculous - even the cheapest lenses have uv-blocker.

There has been some concern regarding blue light and that near uv-rays
might be harmful. There have been lenses to block this but the red
color did not sell very well - as you might imagine.

Carl E Eriksson

 

Thank you very much gentleman for your responses.

I'll just take your advice and pick a dark gray one.

Reza.

 

If you're really hung up on staring at the sun, astronomy shops sell
glasses (reasonably cheap) that make this possible. We bought some to
take to Mazatlan for the '91 eclipse and gave them to kids on the way back
-- the kids were looking directly at the sun and they thought that the
gringos yelling "peligroso!" were funny. A certain type of welders'
glasses will work too.

Maybe...

 

Also, eating 'mater and greens will help protect the eyes against the
effects of UV. Alternatively, you can use nutritional supplements
containing lycopene, xeaxantine, and vitamin C.

DrG