Most eyeglass wearers can relate to a time when their everyday specs just didn’t cut it for their active lifestyle – lenses fogging, frames sliding down your face, peripheral vision not wide enough, reading portion of progressives getting in the way. While we all own several different pairs of shoes specific to different activities we expect a single pair of glasses to do everything, however much like footwear, that isn’t always the case. Contact lenses might be a solution for some (and yes they can correct for astigmatism AND reading powers as well… but that is a whole other blog post), others may not be a good candidate or are not interested in that form of vision correction.
Here are some solutions for clear, comfortable, and effective prescription eyewear for professional and the weekend warriors alike.
Golfing
Since golf is an outdoor sport, right off the bat you should be thinking sun protection. The sun’s harmful UV rays raises the risk of eye growths, cataracts, and even cancer. Luckily there are several options for prescription sunglasses and even sunglass tints that can even enhance your game.
Copper/Amber Tints: can heighten contrast, especially against the greens of the fairway and the sky. This will allow you to better see undulations in the fairway and track your ball in flight ( important for those unfortunate duffs).
*** Check out Oakley’s brand new Prizm tint for golf specific sunglasses ***
Rose/Red Tints: When you’re lining up your putt, you eye is saturated with the colour green. Rose coloured lenses help pick up other hues on the green to help you better pick up subtle undulations. However, some of these tints do distort your overall colour perception while other golf specific tints stay neutral
Golfing with Presbyopia (age-related loss of reading power): While progressives are great for everyday use, some golfers find them frustrating when addressing their ball since the bottom of the lens is focused for near reading (~40cm). One solution is to have your prescription golfing glasses created for just your distance power. The downfall however is that you can no longer read your scorecard! Luckily Oakley has come out with a game-changer golf specific progressive that might just solve all your problems. Unlike a traditional progressive lens, this golf-specific lens is reconfigured to maximize the usability of the prescription while minimizing the distortion/blur some experience in their follow through.
Cycling (and running for that matter!)
Custom Rx swim goggles: Some might argue that while swimming you don’t need clear vision. But don’t forget you have to find your way in and out of the pool! And with competitive sports like triathlons you still need to get to your first transition area. Comfortable high performance prescription goggles are available in different styles, sizes and colours. Prescriptions between +4.00 and -6.00 with up to -2.00 of cylinder/astigmatism correction can be easily made. Even people with prescriptions outside of this range may be in luck with certain brands of goggles!


The risk of eye injury is quite high in sports like squash – that little blue ball fits perfectly into an eye’s socket – and without protection you run the risk of potential visually devastating injuries like a retinal detachment, hemorrhage and even glaucoma! Even the most seasoned veterans or prone (or sometimes at greater risk) of eye injuries.
While regular prescription eyewear may still provide a physical barrier from incidental contact many are not impact resistant enough to withstand blows from fast moving projectiles, nor do they provide adequate protection for peripheral threats.
These sports goggles have soft touch cushioning on the inside of the frame and extra deep grooves for better lens hold. This adjustable headband allows for a more comfortable fit. The integrated ventilation system combined with the anti-fog treatment of the Plano lenses reduces fogging (suitable for prescription lenses up to +4.00 to -4.00 diopters)
Come stop by Vista Eyecare anytime to see how we can help you maximize your comfort and vision … no matter the sport or level of expertise!
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