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Most of the eye injuries that occur from skiing or snowboarding
happen because of a bad choice in eyewear, or no eyewear at all. If you take a
serious fall with improper eyewear on, the lens can shatter and the pieces can
cut your eye. If you aren't wearing eyewear, a low branch can seriously injure
you eye. The right kind of lens can also help you see better on the snow. Light
reflects of the snow, creating enormous glare. Proper eyewear can both protect
your eyes, and absorb the glare helping you see better altogether.
UV Protection:
Ultraviolet light has been proven to cause a variety of eye disease
as well as pre-mature aging. UV concentrations increase as
altitude increase. Therefore, UV protection is a must. ( For
more information, see
UV and its Effects on the Eyes).
Polycarbonate Lenses:
This is the only type of lens that should be worn. Both glass
and plastic lenses can shatter upon impact, and lens particles can
penetrate the eye. Polycarbonate lenses are the most impact
resistance, and will not shatter upon impact. Polycarbonate also is
more resistant to fogging than any other lens. Plastic provide
adequate protection, but still can shatter. Avoid glass lenses if at
all possible.
Frame Material & Style: Choose a plastic frame or ski
goggle. Plastic frames fare better in the cold. Metal frames become
brittle in the cold and may snap. Also, upon a fall, the nosepads on
a metal frame can poke an eye. For frame style, wraps are very
popular, as they wrap around your eye to keep out wind and snow
(especially important for contact lens wearers). They also help
block out incidental light from the sides, helping to minimize
glare.
Polarized
Lenses:
Glare manifest itself in what is called polarized light. Glare
is most noticeable on high reflective surfaces such as water and
snow. Regular sun lenses do not provide adequate absorption of
glare. Polarized lenses absorb 98% of the glare reflected off the
snow. Note:
Polarized lenses absorb so much glare that you may not be able
to distinguish patches of ice from regular snow.
Lens Color:
When skiing in bright sunlight, you will choose to wear a sun lens.
Choose a lens that is brown or amber in color as this will provide
the best contrast against a white background, and is better for
lower light conditions (i.e. when the sun goes behind the clouds). A
photochromatic lens may also be useful. Photochromatic lenses change
color with changes of light. Therefore, they will get darker in
bright sunlight, and become lighter in an overcast sky.
Goggles:
You may choose to wear a goggle when skiing in sunlight or, to where
while it is snowing, you may choose to use a goggle. Use the same
lens color guidelines as above. Make sure the goggle is well
ventilated. If you wear contact lenses, you need to make sure that
your goggle is well ventilated so your contacts do not dry up.
Remember to blink a lot, as well, to help keep your contacts moist.
Prescription Lenses:
Prescription lenses can be fit in most sunglasses, including
wrap styles. However, if you have a high prescription, it is better
to stay away from wrapped frames, as the vision will be distorted on
the periphery. For goggle wearers, an insert can be made up with a
prescription to fit behind a goggle lens. There are also goggles
that are made to fit over your glasses, however, this is often
uncomfortable, and glasses tend to fog easier.
Recommended Style:
For goggles, Barz, Bolle, Bugz, and Smith ,
Peppers,
Hilco, Rudy Project and SkiVision
and meet all
of the above requirements and all these brands have some styles are available with a prescription.
For sunglasses Native and H2Optix makes
all polarized, all Polycarbonate.
Anarchy
makes nice wrap styles with a polycarbonate lens and some styles are polarized. Bolle also makes some polarized styles and
polycarbonate lenses. Rudy Project makes polycarbonate
lenses and some styles are available polarized.
Peppers
also makes some polarized
polycarbonate styles.
Other favorites of skiers and snowboarders that
have glass lenses including some polarized styles are: Vuarnet,
Serengeti, and Smith, although Smith
does have some polarized polycarbonate and plastic lenses which are much safer
than glass.
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Look
For
-UV
Protection
-Polycarbonate
lenses
-Frame Material & Style
-Polarized Lenses
-Lens Color
-Goggles
-Prescription Capability
Recommended Styles
Goggles
-Anarchy/Angel
-Barz
-Bolle
-Bugz
-Hilco
-Panoptx
-Peppers
-Rec-Specs
-SkiVision
-Smith
-Clic
-Rudy Project
-Peppers
-Zeal
Sunglasses
-Anarchy
-Columbia Sportswear
-H20ptix
-Native
-Peppers
-Rudy
Project
-Serengeti
(glass)
-Vuarnet (glass)
-Zeal
Prescription Information
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are available with a
prescription lens. 
