It’s vital that your teenager wears sunglasses as teens spend a large amount of time outdoors. Children’s eyes are more susceptible to light because the lenses in their young eyes aren’t able to filter high energy rays. The more sun exposure that a person has during their lifetime, the more likely they are to develop eye conditions or eye diseases such as cataracts, age-related macular degeneration or even cancer. This is why it is vital that teens and children always wear protective sunglasses when outdoors.
What type of sunglasses are best?
It is impossible to tell how much UV protection a lens provides by looking at the colour or darkness of the lens. In general, when it comes to choosing sunglasses for your teen, it is advisable to purchase them from an optician. This will ensure that they meet with industry standard for UV protection.
Eye specialists recommend wearing sunglasses with at least 99 percent UV A and UV B protection in order to avoid any damage to the eyes. Cheaper sunglasses found in high street stores or stands are often imported from other counties and may not comply with industry standards for blocking UV rays. Some cheap sunglasses only absorb 40 percent of UV rays.
It is also possible for sunglasses with a tinted lens to provide no UV protection.In fact, wearing tinted lenses that don’t have a coating of UV is actually worse than wearing no sunglasses as the darkness caused by the tinted sunglasses causes the pupil to become larger allowing more harmful UV rays to enter the eye.
When should my teen wear sunglasses?
Parents should ensure to advise their teens that UV rays are not simply radiated from the sun but are also reflected off the ground, snow and water which is why it’s important that if your child is partaking in activities such as skiing, football, swimming, canoeing or hockey they need to wear eye protective gear. Sunglasses should be worn even on cloudy days.
