Why would I get anti-glare (or anti-reflectives) on my glasses?

Sometimes when you look directly at someone who’s wearing a pair of glasses, you may see a reflection of color in their lenses. If that person is not wearing sunglasses or glasses that transition colors in the sunlight, you’re most likely looking at anti-glare.

Anti-glare is a fancy film that can be added to the front and back of lenses. It is sometimes called anti-reflective coating. These coatings on your lenses – along with a plethora of other options – are available to help increase clarity of vision.

While glasses seem like a simple option of correct prescription with frames, not all people will see the same out of basic lenses. Lens materials have different refractive indexes which work better for different thicknesses of lenses and prescriptions.

Anti-glare may help you see more clearly out of the lens material that works for you by reducing reflections off of your lens. This may allow more light to pass through the lenses you wear, allowing you to see more and see more clearly.

photo curtesy of AllAboutVision.com

Anti-glare also serves for other unintended purposes in your glasses. Anti-glare does not exist by itself on your lens. In order for the anti-glare coating to adhere best to your lenses, it is bonded with a scratch-resistant coating. (Something important to note is that it’s scratch resistant, not scratch proof.) While wear and tear happens to all glasses that lead to scratching, scratch resistant coatings help reduce the number of scratches on lenses over time.

The other thought behind anti-glare being a scratch coating is that while there is no anti-glare on the market that can fully prevent scratches, anti-glare coatings put a warranty on your lenses for a set amount of time. Industry standard is usually a year, but based on the different rankings of anti-glares, some anti-glare come with up to a 2-year warranty!

You heard us right; rankings. We – and all providers, including insurance companies – establish different standards of anti-glares. They are ranked from category A, a decent anti-glare, to the top-of-the-line, best-in-the-industry category D. You can expect different quality from different categories, and even different brands within a category. Confusing, right?

To make matters worse, each different category has a different price established by your insurance company. They can range anywhere from completely covered by your insurance plan to $149 out of pocket after applying your insurance.

So, how would someone who thinks they could benefit from anti-glare know which one works best? It’s hard to ask, but just like with your prescription, you have to trust that what your local opticians are giving will work for you.

The good news is, most opticians are in the industry because they truly want what works best for their patients. They are not in it for just a paycheck. The key lies in finding a doctor’s office with opticians your trust. If your local optician helped you to work with your insurance and possibly solved problems in the past, they are most likely trying their best to be helpful.

Keep in mind, not every product will work for every person, so if you try something that doesn’t work for you, don’t hesitate to ask questions about what other options there are for you!

At our office, we offer one free remake of your glasses in case the materials you choose do not work best for you, or in case your prescription shifts. Ask your optician for details, or call or text us with any questions you may have, including if you would like to use your scratch warranty on your current lenses!