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Bulgari Sunglasses	Costa Del Mar Sunglasses
Versace sunglasses	Rayban Sunglasses
Prada Sunglasses	Maui Jim Sunglasses.

 

History of Eyeglasses

It is said that the Roman emperor Nero liked to watch gladiator fights with emeralds. These, however, appear to have worked rather like mirrors. Flat panes of smoky quartz which offered no corrective powers but did protect the eyes from glare were used in China in the 12th century or possibly earlier.

Contemporary documents describe the use of such crystals by judges in Chinese courts to conceal their facial expressions while questioning witnesses.[3] James Ayscough began experimenting with tinted lenses in spectacles in the mid-18th century, around 1752.

These were not "sunglasses" as such; Ayscough believed blue- or green-tinted glass could correct for specific vision impairments. Protection from the sun's rays was not a concern for him.

Yellow/amber and brown-tinted spectacles were also a commonly-prescribed item for people with syphilis in the 19th and early 20th centuries because sensitivity to light was one of the symptoms of the disease.

In prehistoric and historic time, Inuit peoples wore flattened walrus ivory "glasses," looking through narrow slits in order to block the harmful reflected rays of the sun.

Modern Developments.

In the early 1900s, the use of sunglasses started to become more widespread, especially among the pioneering stars of silent movies.

It is commonly believed that this was to avoid recognition by fans, but the real reason was they often had perennially red eyes from the powerful arc lamps that were needed due to the extremely slow speed film stocks used.

The stereotype persisted long after improvements in film quality and the introduction of ultraviolet filters had eliminated this problem. Inexpensive mass-produced sunglasses were introduced to America by Sam Foster in 1929. Foster found a ready market on the beaches of Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he began selling sunglasses under the name Foster Grant from a Woolworth on the Boardwalk. Polarized sunglasses first became available in 1936, when Edwin H. Land began experimenting with making lenses with his patented Polaroid filter.

Functions

Visual Clarity and Confort

Sunglasses can improve visual comfort and visual clarity by protecting the eye from glare.

Various types of disposable sunglasses are dispensed to patients after receiving mydriatic eye drops during eye examinations.

The lenses of polarized sunglasses reduce glare reflected at some angles off shiny non-metallic surfaces such as water. They are popular among fishermen because they allow wearers to see into water when normally only glare or reflected light would be seen.

Protection

Sunglasses offer protection against excessive exposure to light, including it's visible and invisible components

The most widespread protection is against ultraviolet radiation, (UV) which can otherwise cause short-term and long-term ocular problems such as photokeratitis,snow blindness,cataracts,and various forms of eye cancer.

Medical experts advise the public on the importance of wearing sunglasses to protect the eyes from UV; for adequate protection, experts recommend sunglasses that reflect or filter out 99-100 % of UVA and UVB light, with wavelengths up to 400 nanometers.

Sunglasses which meet this requirement are often labeled as "UV 400." This clearly exceeds the widely used standard of the European Union, which requires only that 95 % of the radiation up to only 380 nm must be reflected or filtered out.

Sunglasses are not sufficient to protect the eyes against permanent harm from looking directly at the sun, even during a solar eclipse.

Standards for Sunglasses

There are three major sunglass standards, which are popularly known mostly as a reference for sunglass protection from UV radiation; the standards do, however, also include further requirements. A worldwide ISO standard does not yet exist, but by 2004, attempts to introduce such standard have led to a respective ISO standards committee, subcommittee, technical committee, and several working groups. All standards are voluntary, so not all sunglasses comply, nor are manufacturers required to comply.

The Australian Standard is AS/NZ1067:2003. The five ratings for transmittance (filter) under this standard are based on the amount of absorbed light, 0 to 4, with “0” providing some protection from UV radiation and sunglare, and “4” indicating a high level of protection, but not to be worn when driving. Australia introduced the world's first national standards for sunglasses in 1971. They were subsequently updated and expanded, leading in 1990 to AS 1076.1-1990 Sunglasses and fashion spectacles, which was superseded in 2003 by AS/NZ1067:2003. The 2003 update made the Australian standard relatively similar to the European standard.

This step opened the European market to Australian-made sunglasses, but the standard also maintained requirements considered specific to Australia's climate.

The European standard EN 1836:2005 has four transmittance ratings: "0" for insufficient UV protection, "2" for sufficient UHV protection, "6" for good UHV protection and "7" for "full" UHVV protection, meaning that no more than 5 % of the 380 nm rays are transmitted. Products which fulfill the standard receive a CE mark. There is no rating for transmittance protection for radiation of up to 400 nm ("UV 400"), as required in other countries (incl. the United States) and recommended by experts. The current standard EN 1836:2005 was preceded by the older standards EN 166:1995 (Personal eye protection –Specifications), EN167: 1995 (Personal eye protection – Optical test methods), and EN168: 1995 (Personal eye protection – Non-optical test methods), which in 2002 were republished as a revised standard under the name of EN 1836:1997 (which included two amendments). In addition to filtering, the standard also lists requirements for minimum robustness, labeling, materials (non-toxic for skin contact and not combustible) and lack of protrusions (to avoid harm when wearing them).

The US standard is ANSI Z80.3-2001, which includes three transmittance categories. According to the ANSI Z80.3-2101 standard, the lens should have a UVB (280 to 315 nm) transmittance of no more than one per cent and a UVA (315 to 380 nm) transmittance of no more than 0.3 times the visual light transmittance. The standard also includes requirements for basic impact and high impact protection. In the basic impact test, a 1 in (2.54 cm) steel ball is dropped on the lens from a height of 50 in (127 cm). In the high velocity test, a 1/4 in (6.35 mm) steel ball is shot at the lens at 150 ft/s (45.72 m/s). To pass both tests, no part of the lens may touch the eye