A guide to UV protection in sunglasses
One of the top reasons you should be wearing sunglasses is to protect your eyes from UV damage. Long term exposure to UV rays is linked to eye health issues such as cancer of the eye lids, cataracts and macular degeneration. Good quality sunglasses will filter out both UVA and UVB rays, the latter responsible for causing sunburn and eye tissue damage with prolonged, unprotected exposure. Sunglasses with UV400 protection filter out UVA and UVB rays ensuring protection from UV damage.
Not all sunglasses have UV400 protection, some cheap sunglasses may not provide adequate UV protection. This can pose an even greater risk than wearing none at all because the pupils will dilate allowing more harmful rays into the eyes. You can tell if your sunglasses have UV protection by checking for a CE UV400 mark on the frame. All sunglasses we sell provide UV400 protection.
The darkness of the lens or lens category has nothing to do with UV protection. The UV filter applied to lenses is actually clear so even a clear lens can be UV400 rated (the maximum protection from UVR). To find out more about lens categories read our post - What do sunglass lens categories mean?
It is important to always have a pair of UV400 rated sunglasses to hand, even on cloudy or overcast days, to protect your eyes from UV damage.