Has anyone found a particular color, brand or style or combination there of, that help with daytime starbursts and sparkle-bursts?

What about wearing a light colored pair at night?

Has anyone tried the yellow color? I notice welders use this color. Well, its more like red/yellow.

Comments?

CA

*sunglasses* and you'll find some posts about this. Most of us have bought yellow tinted glasses and tried wearing at night. There should be some historical posts regarding this.

If I remember correctly, no conclusions were ever reached. Maybe some of the newer people will have things to add. I have a whole "pile" of old glasses I've bought and tried.

Phyllis

"We do not know where we are going, but we are on our way."
-Stephen VincentBenet

Sunglass tints can be a very personal thing. What works for one person does not work for the next.

I general, there are a few things to keep in mind.

1) Gash is light intensity related. The more light the worse it will be. In this situation, any tint will generalyy work. The exceptions are in low light as there is not much you can afford to reduce. THis is why yellow is used under these conditions, The eye is most sensitive to yellow light, and reducing the blue and red ends of the spectrum tricks the brain into thinking it is brighter. In fact the light entering the eye has reduced by 20% or so.

2) Different colours do different things. Brown/amber/bronze improves contrast under certain conditions, but often doesn't seem dark enough in bright light conditions. Grey is great in bright light, but as all wavelengths are reduced by roughly the same amount, they don't do anything for contrast.

3) We are still dealing with individuals. My recommendation is to give the sunny store your Visa, Amex, Rolex, whatever, and take a pair out into the sun and see what you think. Change them over and try a different lens. Keep this up until you have your best lens. Remember, forget fashion until you have the best lens for you, and then worry about frame style.

4) While starbursts and ghosts will not be eradicated, the correct choice of sunny can certainly reduce the effect. The choice of colour for comfort and reduction of visual anomaly is important to remember.

5) My recommended brands in no particular order:

Revo, Serengeti, some Bolle lenses (21 colours at last count), some Nike lenses, Zeiss Umbral, Persol, some Armani lenses.

6) Some I don't like:

Oakley (not dark enough and not good glare protection for me), RayBan (give me headache), some Bolle lenses (not dark enough and not good glare protection for me)

7) Don't be taken in by hype. All sunglass shops will push certain brands. Sunglass hut is owned by Luxottica (they own Lenscrafters or Pearl Optical as well). They push Luxottica brands such as RayBan, Armani, Vogue, Persol etc. They dropped Oakley over here and found it a big mistake, so have put it back in. They will push their own brands as the best and often don't have a complete range.

The employee is often not well versed in lens benefits and technology and will give standard answers, usually what they want you to hear, "yes they are great for glare protection".

You must try before you buy.

Sunglasses have a huge variability in cost, up to several hundred dollars. In some cases it is well justified, in others you are paying for good marketing and low quality. An expensive pair of sunglasses is easily justified if it reduces glare and starbursting.

grant

I tried yellow lenses. Essentially they're like really weak sunglasses. For about 10 minutes as the sun is going down the yellow lenses helped dampen starbursts. Once the sun is completely down they don't help at all. Just my two cents worth. Nothing works as well as RGPs.

I am still hoping RPGs will help but have yet to be fit with any. In the mean time, I was hoping to find a selection of sunglasses to tie me over until that time.

I have found that in the past six months I have been bothered by daytime sparkle-bursts more than usual, especially around reflections. I am 2 years post lasik.

Thank you to everyone who posted with information.

Grant,

One more question - What are Sunny Stores?

CA

It is a store where the proprietor has spent a fortune on purcasing a miniature sun which sits in the corner and lights the whole shop. It is a really cheap energy source for running all your solar equipment.

Don't you have them in Newfoundland?

But seriously, they are stores that sell exclusively sunglasses. We have a couple of chains here, Sunglass Hut is an international company, Bright Eyes and Sunglass World.

They take small shops in malls and make a living on selling sunny's exclusively. I can't see how they survive through winter, but maybe they do so well over summer that they cover the years expenses.

They control the bulk of the business over here now. Another area Optometry has let go of.

grant

quote:

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Originally posted by Grant Mason, OD:
It is a store where the proprietor has spent a fortune on purcasing a miniature sun which sits in the corner and lights the whole shop. It is a really cheap energy source for running all your solar equipment.

Don't you have them in Newfoundland?

But seriously, they are stores that sell exclusively sunglasses. We have a couple of chains here, Sunglass Hut is an international company, Bright Eyes and Sunglass World.

They take small shops in malls and make a living on selling sunny's exclusively. I can't see how they survive through winter, but maybe they do so well over summer that they cover the years expenses.

They control the bulk of the business over here now. Another area Optometry has let go of.

grant

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You are backwards and upsidedown. Just kidding of course

I don't visit the malls much but I am sure we must have one somewhere. I thought when you said sunnys it was a brand or something, but now I think you are meaning sunglasses.

Sunglasses - Sunnys
Diapers - Nappys
Breakfast - Breaky

come on tell me some more

I am the one with the interface haze that you recommended the yellow lens to, and I did get the 'blue-blocker' glasses. They do not get rid of starbursts, but they sure do help with my daytime driving, they greatly increase my contrast sensitivity, and reduce glare. The enourmous starbursts are ever-present though.

The best I have found for glare, etc are polarized lenses. My favorites are Maui Jim (all around best sunglasses ever) and PanOptx. I also have polarized ski goggles (Carrera) - they are the best I have ever found for overcast "flat light" days skiing.

Most sunglasses can be ordered over the internet for substantial discounts - once you know what works for you. Try 1800800lens.com for a start.

Lynne

My experience is a bit different from most people's. Yellow/amber/"shooting glasses" seem to have no effect. In fact, they seem to make starbursts WORSE because they increase contrast. For instance, if you are indoors and look up at your light, you may see your light throwing big white starbursts across your also-white ceiling.

It's big, it's bright, it spans most or all of your vision. But because it's white on white, you probably only see the bigger filaments.

With the yellow/amber, it increases contrast so now all the smaller spikes stand out more obviously.. at least, that is my experience.

Contrary to many people's experiences as well, polarization seems to have no meaningful effect. I have a lot of sunglasses, and I have found one thing that always works.

As Grant stated, the less light you see, the better. I found the best for this are Oakley 9% lenses. They are darker than Maui Jim, Smith, Wiley-X, Gargoyle, and any other I have tried.

Though 9% compared to 12% may not seem like a lot, they seem to make a difference to me.

I find that the Oakley 9%s reduce starburst size by roughly 40%. It would be nice if they reduced them by 91%, but no such luck there. It's not enough to drive or anything, but if you need to walk to your mailbox or something, they'll work well enough there.

.. I want to caution against buying photochromic lenses. They seem nice, but they don't work for our eyes. None of them darken enough (quote 12-14% max), and even then, they never reach the actual quoted level because when it's really bright, it's hot, and it only gets its darkest in the cold.

Also, you still won't be able to drive with them, because they barely work at all in cars, because the windshield blocks the UV.

P.S. Am I alone in my intense hatred of people who run their headlights during the day? It seems like 1/3rd to 1/4th of people do it. Do they have any idea how hard it is to see when those bastards do that?

In many cars, like mine, the headlamps are on as long as the engine is running. There is no way to turn them off. I guess I'm one of those "bastards" you're talking about? Hmmm. You live in a bright, sunny, heat-shimmery place, so the effect is probably more of an issue for you.

For many of us, darker glasses mean more aberrations as the pupils attempt to dilate in accommodation. Sunglasses are a major problem for me, as I already have such poor contrast that it becomes impossible to see with them unless I wear a grey lens with a bit of red tint. Why? Dunno, but it is what it is. Bottom line is that each and every one of us is different, and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another. If there were a one-size-fits-all answer, we wouldn't be here.