Solving The Laser Safety Crisis: Prescription Safety Glasses

The world of laser safety has not changed much since the inception of the laser some sixty years ago. They present the most damage to people's eyes, and so the number one concern for those who come in contact with this technology is that people wear the proper protection when working around this type of technology. Although this seems like a pretty simple and straightforward appeal, there has been one glitch along the way, and that is people who already wear eyeglasses.

Requiring people to wear some form of protection when they already wear glasses that require a prescription can be a tricky endeavor. Some people might say that they should just take advantage of contact lenses, but this does not offer a universal solution. Many people cannot wear contact lenses, either for medical or personal reasons. This left people with one option: wear the protective eyewear on top of the pair they already wear. While some people dutifully put safety first, many other ditched the awkward and cumbersome solution, and simply exposed their eyes to laser damage.

Now people have a third option. Prescription laser safety glasses may seem like a very obvious solution after the fact, but the truth is that the technology to combine both prescription lenses and safety lenses into the same set of glasses has not been available until recently.

People who wear glasses can now fulfill the safety standards without having to sacrifice comfort, visual ability, or even looks. They look like any other pair and can be made as lightweight and comfortable as any other pair. They are manufactured with a polycarbonate lens, which can be molded to fill an eyeglass prescription. During the molding process, the lenses are also injected with laser-shielding chemicals. The end result is a lightweight combination of prescription eyewear and laser safety.

Like any other pair, they come equipped with side shields. This is because technology like this presents just as much of a danger when entering through the side of the as when entering directly into the front of the eye. The same characteristics which make it more powerful are also the same characteristics that make them harmful.

The latest medical advancements have been able to include even more people into the world of working with this type of technology. It used to be that people with special optical needs could not hope for anything but a pair of eyeglasses. Now, even the protective eyewear can be equipped to correct bifocal vision or astigmatism.