Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsPurposesTint PercentageChoosing a TintSafety
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Purposes
Tint Percentage
Choosing a Tint
Safety
Sunglasses tints can enhance your vision based on your specific needs, such as reducing brightness for driving, improving contrast during sports, or blocking blue light for screen use. However, the color of the lenses doesn’t determine how well they protect your eyes fromUV (ultraviolet) rays.
UV protection comes from a coating applied to the lenses, which is often invisible. This means even clear lenses can block UV rays as effectively as dark ones.Darker tints, however, are better for cutting glare and improving comfort in bright conditions.
Verywell / Gary Ferster
Choosing Sunglasses Tints
Tints filter light in different ways. Some are better at blocking light. Others enhance colors while others distort them.
Tints can enhance your vision in some cases. You might like the look of one color over or another. But the attractive one may not be the best fit for your lifestyle.
Gray
Gray is a popular neutral tint. It helps reduce brightness without adversely affecting your ability to see shape and detail.Choose gray for:
Yellow/Orange
Yellow and orange tints increase contrast in hazy, foggy, or low-light conditions.They tend to make objects appear sharper, both indoors and outdoors. But they can distort colors.
Choose yellow shades for:
You may want different lens colors for the same activity in different conditions. For example, skiers often use gray or brown tints on sunny days and yellow or orange when it’s snowing or hazy.
Green
Green tints filter someblue lightand reduce glare. They also offer high contrast and visual sharpness. Green lenses can be soothing and green light can help improve headache symptoms.
Green also tends to reduce eyestrain in bright light. Choose green for precision sports such as:
Amber/Brown
Amber and brown tints reduce glare andblock blue light.They brighten vision on cloudy days. They also increase contrast and depth perception without adversely affecting your ability to see detail and shape.
They’re especially useful against green and blue backgrounds, like grass and sky. Choose amber and brown tints for:
Some sunglasses manufacturers use synthetic melanin as a lens coating to help filter light and protect the eyes.Melanin is the pigment in your skin that helps protect it from sun damage. Manufacturers claim melanin-coated lenses protect your eyes from aging related to sun exposure.
Rose/Red
Choose red tints for:
Blue
Polarized, blue-tinted glasses can help reduce glare from water or snow. The blue tint can also help with color perception. One study found that people wearing blue-tinted lenses did not perform as well in sports activities. This may be because this color can reduce contrast sensitivity and increase color distortion.
Additional Options
When youbuy sunglasses, you may also have the option to select additional features such as a mirrored coating or polarized lenses. These features can help reduce reflections and eye fatigue.
How Dark Should Tinted Sunglasses Be?
Tint is defined as the percentage of light the lens blocks. Commercially available sunglasses have tint intensities that range from light to dark. Lightly tinted lenses have about a 20% tint intensity, while a medium tint is about 50% and a dark tint is around 80%.
A high tint percentage isn’t necessarily better at protecting your eyes from the sun. What matters most is whether or not your sunglasses provide full protection from all UV light.Darker sunglasses do help reduce squinting, which can protect your eyes from fatigue, especially when spending a lot of time in very bright conditions. Wearing sunglasses is also a good way to reduce eye strain while driving.
Very dark tints may make it harder to see, even in bright light, while light tints may not be enough to reduce squinting.A medium tint is a good general-use lens for most outdoor activities, though this is based more on personal preference since tint does not affect how well-protected your eyes are from UV rays.
How to Choose the Right Tint For You
Tint choice should be based on personal preference as well as on the activities you plan to do while wearing your sunglasses. Your choice of tint doesn’t affect how safe your sunglasses are, though it may help reduce eye fatigue and make it easier to see during certain activities. Some of the elements to think about include:
You may also want to consider polarized or mirrored lenses if you spend time in environments with a lot of glare, such as lakes or snowy areas.
Can I Tint My Sunglasses?
Sunglass Safety Concerns
Regardless of the hue, experts have some concerns about tinted lenses and eye health. Wearing sunglasses can give you a false sense of eye protection.
For starters, dark-tinted lenses without appropriate UV filters can cause more eye damage than not wearing shades. This is because the pupil widens in the dark to let in more light, which exposes it to even more UV radiation.
Additionally, sunglasses sold in the United States are not required to adhere to the American National Standards Institute (ASNI) recommendations.Lenses that do will likely have a sticker or tag stating lenses meet ANSI Z80.3-2018 UV blocking requirements.For optimal protection, sunglasses should block at least 99% of UVA and UVB radiation. Look for either one of the following terms on the label:
These lenses, however, only protect against direct UV rays. Indirect sunlight can reach your eyes through the side of the frames or reflect off the back of the lens. In fact, one study found some sunglasses allow up to 42% of UV rays to reach your eyes.
For better eye protection, buy oversized or wraparound-style frames to help reduce the amount of UV light entering from the sides.
Additionally, look for lenses that have a UV coating on both the front and back of the lenses. Research shows this can reduce overall UV exposure to 7%.
If you are unsure about the quality of UV protection, bring the sunglasses to an optician or ophthalmologist’s office. Eye care specialists may have a UV light meter that can test the lenses' UV-blocking abilities. Contact them to see if they do.
Summary
Tinted sunglasses offer unique benefits based on their color, but the shade doesn’t indicate UV protection. Gray lenses are ideal for driving and outdoor sports, while yellow and orange tints enhance contrast, making them useful for snowy conditions. Green reduces glare, brown tones block blue light and improve contrast in natural settings, and reddish tints can be soothing for long drives. Blue tints may also reduce glare, depending on the lighting conditions.
When selecting sunglasses, prioritize lenses that provide 100% UV protection to shield your eyes from harmful rays. Opt for larger lenses to minimize unfiltered UV light entering around the edges. The level and color of tint should align with your personal preferences and the outdoor activities you plan to enjoy while wearing them.
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Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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