UV eye damage - type of goggles?

[djinnform]

Does anyone have any concrete information about which goggles protect you for UV light?

I have dark mirror lense JT goggles and after about 8 hours on the field, my eyes are red and ichy, and my face feels like it's getting burned right through my mask. (I keep my mask on all day.)

The web says you can get cataracts in old age from this - or eye cancer.

[dboggs79]

Check out the ninja black lens for the E-vent and Eflex masks. I have one and it is crazy dark!

[uv_halo]

Unfortunately, the only brand/model I've seen to claim UV protection is the Dye i4 (this technology was probably invested to support their snow product line as well). I'm willing to bet that unless a manufacturer identifies their product as having it, the goggles do not have it.

It's for this very same reason I decided to not wear my mirrored JT lense anymore.

Check out the ninja black lens for the E-vent and Eflex masks. I have one and it is crazy dark!

Darkness has absoulutely nothing to do with UV- it's a matter of what light wavelengths are allowed through. If you have dark lenses that allow UV light through, you actually do more damage.

Normally, when your eyes are exposed to sunlight, your iris tightens allowing less light (to include UV) into your retina. When you wear dark glasses, your irises stay wider and if the glasses aren't blocking UV then, more UV is getting to your retina. This is old news- In the 80s, Los Angeles street market vendors were found to be causing more damage to folks eyes because they were putting bogus UV protection stickers on their cheapo sunglasses.

[skipdogg]

Good to know. I would have never thought of this.
I only wear mirrored lenses one weekend a year at a certain event so i can creep.... So, i think im ok.

[El Zilcho]

I usually just play with my eyes closed so I think I should be fine.

[djinnform]

proto switch protection from UV -FYI

proto switch worked really well to prevent the UV last weekend, my face was not burned through the mask either, after 8 hours of daytime play, FYI, my eyes were not bloodshot and red from UV either

the Dye masks all claim to have UV protection for the eyes

[athomas]

This thread is a month old but does need rehashing. UV protection for your eyes while out in the sun is very important. I can speak from experience on this one. I grew up in the far North where we had snow from September to May. As kids we were always out playing in it. The sun glare off the snow was quite bright even though the days were shorter in the winter. At the age of 39 I had my first cataract surgery and at the age of 47, my second. Its young for that kind of surgery. Its not fun having a fixed focal length. It limits your visual distance range and requires you to keep many different lenses around to do routine tasks. The progressives aren't always the best options either. Any UV protection you can wear in the sun is ultra important, especially if you are exposed to bright sun and/or for long periods. It might even be worth buying UV athletic sunglasses that you can wear under the goggles.

[djinnform]

update on my war againts the sun

I'm assuming the Dye Proto goggles do protect me from UV, because my face doesn't get burned through the dark lenses. But, the flip side is that these the Proto goggles fog too easily, so I'm shooting at fuzzy showdows at twilight.

So, I bought brand new Sly Profit googles with with the standard gradient lense. (They don't fog.) Sly does make a UV protection claim of some type, but it's not as strong as the claim that Dye makes.

After about 3 days of use with the Sly Profit, my face seems more protected than the JTs I used to wear, but my eyes are still bloodshot and face still feels some burning from rays coming through after 8 hours of play in the sun.

I have now purchased a UV light detector on Amazon! It's designed to measure harmful rays from the sun with a digital readout.

I have about 8 pairs of googles lying around. So if this dector works, I'm going to do my own consumer report on UV protection from the different masks, very sci-fi.

More to come...

[Ando]

my eyes are red and ichy, and my face feels like it's getting burned right through my mask. (I keep my mask on all day.)

The web says you can get cataracts in old age from this - or eye cancer.

That sounds like an alergic reaction. Possibly from the foam and or glue. I've never seen or heard anyone complain about this before.

[Henchman]

I wear glasses and just ordered te transition lenses, which protect from UV.
For eyeglass wearers it's something to consider.

[Henchman]

That sounds like an alergic reaction. Possibly from the foam and or glue. I've never seen or heard anyone complain about this before.

I agree.
Even this last hot summer in SoCal, I never experienced that.

[djinnform]

In case you were waiting for the results here, I finally made it to Lenscrafters, where they have a special machine that checks lenses for UV penetration. "UV Photometer" - made to test sunglasses. Paintball lenses also fit in the machine.

I gave the lab tech all my paintball lenses. JT x 1, Sly x 2, Proto x 2, Dye x 2 clear, reflective, yellow, and dark

They all passed with 100% protection from UV. So, if you trust Lenscrafters and the skills of their tech. department. Then everything passed the UV eye damage test.

But, I also asked the clerk if he's ever seen a negative, failing result from his machine, and he couldn't answer.

[Spider-TW]

But, I also asked the clerk if he's ever seen a negative, failing result from his machine, and he couldn't answer.

Ha. Very good question.

While I don't doubt UV hazards, I would point out the spring pollen. Our oak pollen gets so thick, it's not so much about allergies as it is just too much junk floating in the air. It finally rained last week and washed it out.

[skipdogg]

Thanks for the follow up!

[zondo]

Interesting thread... I never thought once about UV protection. And that's strange because I always wear sunglasses, even on cloudy days, to protect my eyes from UV rays.