What glass are available for the Blind or Partially Sighted?

Since my partial sight loss, I struggle with the change in light conditions.  If I move from a darker  to a brighter environment, my eyes take time to adjust and also cause me some discomfort.   Also, because I have difficulty with contrast, I find that wearing eye shields make things easier.

There are different glasses / eye shields to choose from:

Fit Overs – These tinted glasses actually fit over the top oft your prescription glasses, blocking out the most amount of light and glare.

Wrap-Arounds -These glasses don’t block light out from the top and bottom of the glasses, but do wrap around the eyes , close to the face to block as much as possible, from the front and sides.

Protecting your eyes from harmful light is always a good idea for anyone, but for those with visual impairment, it makes a great deal of difference to comfort and contrast.  It is the Ultra Violet (UV) and blue light that is most damaging to the retina, so, blocking this as much as possible is very beneficial.  Adding a filter tint not only blocks the harmful light, but can change clarity, comfort and definition for those with sight problems.

When considering which glasses or eye shields to choose, it is important to get the correct filter tint for your specific eye condition and needs.  The percentage listed for each filter refers to the amount of light that is transmitted through the lens, the remaining percentage is blocked.

Most Appropriate Tints for various eye conditions:

Central vision loss including AMD.
Yellow tint blocks out ultra violet (UV) and blue light, but lets in a high percentage of other light. These can be worn indoors and outdoors.

Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) or Diabetic Retinopathy.
Orange tint offers very high contrast and is therefore great for those with the above conditions.

All eye conditions.
Amber tint gives high contrast in strong sunlight and is suitable for all eye conditions. It blocks out ultra violet (UV) and blue light and is suitable for outdoor wear only.
Green tint, like amber, gives high contrast for all eye conditions but can be worn indoors as well as outdoors. It’s also suitable when other tint colours ‘feel too bright’. Green tint is also the best colour tint if you suffer wit migraines at all, wether visually impaired or not.

Grey tint:
Only blocks ultra violet (UV) light. It’s suitable for people whose eye conditions don’t tolerate the changes to the appearance of colours when using other colour tints, and can be worn indoors and outdoors.

Red/Orange:
Diabetic retinopathy and Retinitis Pigmentosa

The glasses I choose to wear are from the RNIB – However, there are a lot of other companies and organisation out there providing both Wrap Arounds and Fit Overs.  The glasses in this post can be found here at the Royal National Institute for The Blind