...continued from Contacts & Glasses That Enhance Performance

Light Control

Polarized sports sunglasses reduce glare so athletes can see the ball or other players better. Anti-reflective (AR) coating is another glare reducer that works even at night, if you're playing under bright lights.

Photochromic lenses are another way to control light. These lenses change from clear or almost clear when indoors to a medium or dark sunglass shade outdoors, depending on the intensity of sunlight. The dominant lens manufacturer of plastic photochromic lenses is Transitions Optical Inc. Therefore, plastic photochromic lenses are often commonly referred to as "Transitions lenses."

Prior to the advent of plastic photochromic lens technology, these light-control lenses were made of glass. The most popular glass photochromic lenses today are PhotoGray and PhotoBrown lenses, manufactured by Corning, the company that invented photochromic lens technology in the 1960s.

Photochromic lenses are terrific for golf, where you're moving from light to shade when walking from one hole to the next. In fact, they work for any outdoor sport on days when it's partly sunny, partly cloudy. For the ultimate light-control lenses, many opticians recommend adding an AR coating to photochromic lenses to eliminate "bounce-back" of light from the back surface of the lenses.

To reduce glare, wear sunglasses with polarized lenses. Shown are Fitovers, worn over prescription eyeglasses.

Convenience and Comfort

Many people choose to wear contact lenses for sports, even if they prefer eyeglasses at work and for other daily activities. Contact lenses offer unobstructed peripheral vision and more natural-appearing vision, with no unwanted changes in image sizes that eyeglasses can sometimes produce.

Daily disposable soft contact lenses are the most convenient option, because they don't require a cleaning regimen. Sports vision specialists report that athletes as a group are not as diligent about cleaning their lenses as the general contact lens-wearing population (though we have found no statistics on this). Additionally, some outdoor activities such as camping, overnight sailing, and hunting make lens cleaning inconvenient.

Wraparound lenses protect eyes from sun and wind. Here, Polo Sport sunglasses.

Soft contacts are initially more comfortable than gas permeable (GP) lenses, although GP lens wearers say GP lenses are just as comfortable as soft lenses after an adaptation period (usually a month or so). Soft lenses are also larger than GP lenses and fit closer to the eye, so they are less likely to pop out when a game gets rough. New soft lens designs even correct astigmatism.

The advantages of GP contact lenses are:

• They don't dry out, because they don't contain water.
• They allow more oxygen to reach the cornea than soft lenses, for better eye health.
• They are very good for correcting astigmatism because they hold their shape on the eye.

A sports vision specialist may recommend GP lenses that are larger than usual, so they are less likely to become dislodged during sports.

Dry eyes are a problem for cold-weather athletes, such as skiers, and for players who keep their eyes open without blinking, such as hockey goalies and racquetball players. Again, GP contact lenses are better at keeping dry eyes at bay. But the best eyewear for dry eyes is eyeglasses, since they don't rest directly on the eye.

Many athletes don't enjoy wearing glasses, because they can fog up or slip down. They also don't provide peripheral vision as good as that obtained with contact lenses. However, for sports like basketball, prescription polycarbonate goggles with a wraparound strap may be a better solution than contact lenses because they provide eye protection.

As you can see, a lot of thought goes into choosing just the right eyewear for sports and recreation. And since people are becoming more active during their leisure time, the demand for sports vision expertise is rising.

[Page updated July 2007]