Eye health resource
Are Anti-Glare or Anti-Reflective Coatings Worth It?
Anti-reflective coatings reduce lens reflections and can improve comfort and cosmetic appearance. Learn when AR coating may be worth adding to your glasses.
Reviewed for accuracy by Justin Bazan, OD on .
Anti-reflective (AR) coating is worth considering for many eyeglass wearers, but it is not automatically necessary for everyone. Its main job is to reduce reflections from the front and back surfaces of your lenses. That can make the lenses look clearer, reduce distracting glare, and improve visual comfort in situations such as night driving or working around bright light sources.
Whether it is worth the additional cost depends on your prescription, lens material, daily activities, sensitivity to reflections, and budget.
What Is Anti-Reflective Coating?
Eyeglass lenses naturally reflect some of the light that reaches their surfaces. An AR treatment uses thin optical layers to reduce those reflections so that more light passes through the lens instead of bouncing off it.
Modern premium lens treatments are often more than a single anti-reflective layer. Depending on the product, the coating package may also include a hard coat for improved scratch resistance and surface treatments that make water, oil, fingerprints, and smudges easier to clean.
Those added features vary by lens product. AR coating itself should not be described as making a lens scratch-proof.
What Are the Main Benefits?
Fewer Reflections
The most obvious benefit is reduced visible reflection on the lens. This can be useful when driving at night, working beneath overhead lighting, or looking at a screen in a room where lamps or windows reflect from the lens surface.
A Clearer Cosmetic Appearance
With fewer reflections, other people can see your eyes more easily through your glasses. That can also make eyeglasses look better in photographs and video calls.
Better Subjective Clarity in Some Situations
Reducing unwanted reflected light can improve contrast and perceived clarity, especially in challenging lighting. The coating does not change the underlying prescription or make an inaccurate prescription sharper.
Particularly Useful on Some Lens Materials
Higher-index lens materials can reflect more light than conventional plastic lenses. AR coating can therefore be especially noticeable on some thinner, higher-index prescriptions.
Does AR Coating Reduce Digital Eye Strain?
It can reduce distracting reflections from screens or room lighting, which some people find more comfortable. But AR coating should not be presented as a treatment for all digital eye strain.
Computer-related eye strain can also come from prolonged near focusing, reduced blinking, dry eye, glare, poor ergonomics, and an uncorrected or outdated prescription. Breaks, comfortable working distance, appropriate lighting, and treatment of dry eye or prescription problems may matter more than any one lens coating.
Is Anti-Reflective Coating the Same as Blue-Light Filtering?
No. Anti-reflective treatment and blue-light filtering are separate lens features, although some commercial lens products combine them.
The strongest reason to choose AR coating is its proven optical effect on lens reflections—not a promise that it protects the retina from ordinary digital-screen blue light. Current evidence does not support claims that routine computer-screen blue light causes retinal damage, and blue-light-filtering spectacles have not consistently been shown to relieve digital eye strain.
Will AR Coating Fix Halos or Night-Driving Problems?
AR coating can reduce reflections created by the eyeglass lens itself, which may make night driving more comfortable. But halos and glare can also come from dry eye, cataracts, corneal irregularity, an outdated prescription, or other eye conditions.
If night glare is new, severe, or worsening, it is better to evaluate the cause than assume a coating alone will solve it.
Can AR Coating Be Added to Different Lens Types?
AR treatment is available with many prescription lens designs, including:
- single-vision lenses
- progressive lenses
- higher-index lenses
- photochromic/Transitions-type lenses
- prescription sunglasses in selected designs
Progressive lenses are multifocal lenses with a gradual change in power from distance through intermediate to near vision. They are not simply bifocals without a line.
How Should Coated Lenses Be Cleaned?
Follow the care instructions for your specific lenses. In general, rinse away particles before rubbing, use an appropriate lens cleaner or mild soap when recommended, and dry with a clean microfiber cloth. Avoid abrasive materials and household chemicals that can damage lens surfaces or coatings.
So, Is AR Coating Worth It?
If reflections bother you, you drive frequently at night, you spend a lot of time under challenging lighting, you use high-index lenses, or you simply prefer a cleaner cosmetic appearance, AR treatment can be a useful upgrade. If none of those issues matter much to you, it may be less important.
Park Slope Eye's optical can explain the differences between lens options and provide a quote based on your prescription and priorities. Your eyeglass prescription is yours whether or not you purchase eyewear from us, but we appreciate the opportunity to show you the options and pricing available in the office.
Explore Park Slope Eye's prescription eyewear options or book an eye exam if your prescription needs to be updated.
Originally published . Substantially updated .