What is the difference between regular sunglasses and “polarized” sunglasses?
Sunglasses offer varying protection from brightness and by law are required to protect your eyes from ultraviolet light. “Polarized” lenses take it one step further and also eliminate unwanted reflections from shiny surfaces such as water, windows, roads, or snow. They are popular with fishermen, skiers, sportsmen, long-haul truckers, policemen and photographers. They come in a variety of colors including dark and light grey, dark and light brown, yellow, green, blue, etc.
Regular sunglasses cut down light at all wavelengths, basically making your perceived vision darker. While this relieves eye stress on sunny days, it has the potential to reduce detail in shaded areas. Polarized filters selectively block the glare from sunlight, sky haze, reflections off snow, etc. while allowing in plenty of light in shaded areas. Fishermen particularly like polarized filters because they reduce the reflections off of the surface of lakes, rivers and oceans that they can see their quarry under the water better. Both kinds of sunglasses are desirable to wear with contact lenses, but you may have either made with your prescription in them.
