If you wear prescription eyewear, then you know you face a dilemma every time the sun shows up. Do you stay with your every day prescription glasses? Doing so puts you at great risk of the aging effects brought on by the sun, such as deep lines and wrinkles brought on by squinting. Also, your normal prescription glasses provide no UV protection, which could lead to serious damage to your eyes over time. So apparently the answers is we must have to carry around a separate pair of prescription sunglasses and swap them with our everyday pair when we are in the sun, right?

Thankfully, there is another option. By investing in transition lenses, we can wear the same pair of eyeglasses both inside and outside. With transition lenses, when we are inside the lenses stay lighter, and when we go out they quickly darken and provide UV protection from the sun.

Transition Lenses, also known as photochromic lenses, are pre coated with chemicals that respond quickly to sun light. These lenses are made of glass and have sterling silver chloride or sterling silver halide embedded inside the lenses. Plastic transition lenses contain natural photochromic molecules. The molecules with these compounds are very clear and translucent in light which does not contain UV rays. However, as soon as they are put in sunlight they begin to change color. The UV rays causes the molecules to change shape, absorbing this light. This causes these eyeglasses to become darker and turn into sunglasses. When the UV light is removed, the molecules quickly return to their previous state and the sunglasses become clear again and turn into eyeglasses.

This darkening process happens relatively quickly. Transition Glasses become dark inside one minute, though they may continue to darken for up to fifteen minutes at which time these eyeglasses reach their darkest state. Going the other way is a little slower. Most Transition Eyeglasses are noticeably lighter within 2 minutes and the eyeglasses are almost entirely clear within five minutes. However, the clearing process at times may take up to fifteen minutes to reach their most transparent state.

The stronger the UV rays, the darker the lenses become. This means that this effect will not always be consistent. It will depend on the time of day and how strong the sun is.

Transition glasses don’t darken without of UV rays. It is important to note that UV rays do not enter our cars because they are deflected by the windshield. In a car, transition lenses will remain lighter because of the absence of UV rays.

If you are planning to be free from glasses or contact lenses, then laser eye surgery is the thing for you. However, being zapped with high energy lasers has its price and it isn’t just about the money. Laser eye surgery complications can affect anyone who decides to undergo this sort of procedure and one should be fully aware and prepared for such risks, otherwise it could lead to some very nasty surprises.

By far, the most universal laser eye surgery complication is constant dry eyes. This is caused by the laser itself that not only burns off the inner corneal tissue, but also severs the corneal nerves that supply the tear glands. This results in a lack of feedback to the brain, which would normally signal the production of tears, and thus dry eye syndrome occurs. Eye drops prescribed to you after laser eye surgery should be used to alleviate the symptoms of dry eye, such as pain, itching, burning, a sensation of something in the eye and a feeling of the eye sticking to the eyelid. If you still experience persistent dry eyes after 6 months after surgery, then it is likely to be a permanent side effect. Regular visits to the doctor prior to 6 months after surgery should have prevented such incidents from occurring.

Another one of the most common laser eye surgery complications is debilitating eye conditions. This manifests itself as night glare, haloes, starbursts and ghost vision. Night glare is the enhanced glare effect at night, which often means an increased recovery time to glare. This results in increased glare effects and makes it very difficult to see at night, especially in the presence of light. Haloes also occur around lights and it usually shows itself as halo rings around these lights. Starbursts are similar to haloes except that the lights appear to exude a sparkling or excessive shining effect, in the same way an especially bright star in the sky would appear. Ghost vision essentially results in double vision and creates somewhat of a dazed effect. All of these symptoms are often in combination and can severely impact the patient’s vision, especially at night. It may take some time to fully recover, probably about several months, before these symptoms greatly subside.

Under correction or over correction can also occur as a complication of laser surgery. In any case, this is due to the patient’s healing rate, since it varies from person to person. Any difficulties in seeing clearly without glasses or contact lenses should be rectified with wearing glasses or contact lenses of a weaker prescription. The patient should also wait for their prescription to stabilize before undergo further eye surgery to fully correct their eyesight.

These are some of laser eye surgery complications that you can expect to experience after the surgery. With proper planning and knowledge, it should be reasonably possible to address any adverse effects of laser eye surgery and to achieve perfectly clear vision.