Anti-Reflective Coating: What It Does and When It's Worth It

An anti-reflective (AR) coating, often called an anti-glare coating, is a set of very thin layers on the surfaces of an eyeglass lens that cuts down the light bouncing off them. With fewer reflections you see less glare from headlights, lamps and screens, and people looking at you can see your eyes clearly through your lenses. If you wear glasses most of the day, it's worth having, especially for night driving, where we pair precise correction with a quality anti-reflective coating instead of a tint, as our guide to night vision and glare explains. The coating can't fix glare that starts inside the eye, such as glare from a cataract, so that part gets checked at a comprehensive eye exam.

Key takeaways

An anti-glare coating cuts reflections off your lenses, so headlights and screens cause less glare, and it's worth having if you wear glasses most of the day.
For night driving, pair a precise prescription with a good coating and skip the tint, since tinted night driving lenses cut the light you have to see by.
A coating can't fix glare that starts inside the eye, from a cataract, dry eye or an irregular cornea like keratoconus, and each has its own treatment.
With many new floaters, flashes or a curtain over part of your vision, call immediately for a same-day exam, or go to an emergency room when we're closed.

What does anti-reflective coating do?

It reduces reflections. Every surface of a clear lens reflects a little of the light that reaches it, and each lens has two surfaces, so the reflections add up. An AR coating is a stack of microscopically thin layers bonded to the lens that cancels most of them, which lets more of the light pass through to your eye. Anti-glare coating is usually another name for the same thing.

You notice the difference in a few ways:

Lamps and windows reflect less on your lenses, including light from behind you that bounces off the back surface.
At night, headlights and streetlights leave fewer reflections and ghost images in the lenses.
At a computer, fewer reflections sit between you and the screen.
Other people see your eyes clearly in conversation, photos and video calls.

Is anti-reflective coating worth it?

For most people who wear glasses all day, we think so. It does the most for people who drive at night and for those who spend long days at a screen or under bright office lights. It also helps if you're often on camera, where reflections on your lenses can hide your eyes.

There are trade-offs. The coating is a thin layer on the lens surface, so it needs gentler cleaning than an uncoated lens, and it adds to the cost of the lenses. If you wear glasses only now and then, such as readers for a few minutes at a time, the benefit is smaller.

Does anti-reflective coating help with night driving?

Yes, for the glare your glasses themselves add. Headlights and streetlights reflect off uncoated lens surfaces, and an AR coating cuts those reflections. For night driving we would rather sharpen your prescription and add a good AR coating than use a tint, because tinted "night driving" lenses cut the total light you have to see by at night.

Glare can also increase in middle age. Changes in the lens inside your eye can scatter incoming light so it isn't focused precisely on the retina, which creates more glare, and you may notice it from headlights at night. A coating can't change what happens inside the eye; it only reduces the extra reflections your glasses add on top.

Wear your current prescription when you drive. Refractive errors, the focusing problems glasses correct, can cause glare or a halo around bright lights on their own. If you're having trouble seeing at night or recovering from the glare of oncoming headlights, slow down and avoid driving at night until your eyes are checked.

What glare can't an anti-reflective coating fix?

Glare that comes from inside the eye. Several conditions scatter light in the eye or make it seem too bright, and each one has its own treatment.

Cataracts

A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye. With one, lamps, sunlight or headlights can seem too bright, you may see a halo around lights, and your glasses prescription may need changing often. A new prescription can help you see better early on; surgery is the only way to get rid of a cataract, though you may not need it right away. Our guide to cataracts explains how we track one.

Dry eye

Dry eye can blur your vision and make your eyes sensitive to light. Halos that clear for a moment each time you blink point to an unstable tear film, and the fix is treating the tear film through our dry eye care.

Keratoconus and other irregular corneas

In its earliest stages, keratoconus causes slight blurring and distortion of vision and more sensitivity to glare and light, and glasses or soft contact lenses can correct the mild nearsightedness and astigmatism it causes at first. As the cornea grows more irregular, glasses can't smooth it, so we map the cornea and often fit scleral lenses, large lenses that rest on the white of the eye and vault over the cornea, with saline filling the space between.

After LASIK

Some patients develop glare, halos or double vision after LASIK that can seriously affect night vision. Our LASIK co-management includes evaluating night glare and halos and treating the dry eye that commonly follows surgery.

Warning signs that aren't glare

A lot of new floaters, flashes of light, or a dark shadow or curtain over part of your vision can mean a retinal detachment, which is a medical emergency. Call us immediately for a same-day exam through urgent eye care, or go to an emergency room when we're closed.

How do you clean anti-reflective glasses?

Gently, and with water first:

Rinse the lenses under lukewarm running water to float off dust and grit.
Put a small drop of mild, lotion-free dish soap on your fingertips, rub both sides of each lens lightly, and rinse again.
Dry them with a clean microfiber cloth.

Don't wipe the lenses with paper towels or your shirt, which can scratch the coating, and skip household glass cleaners. Heat is hard on coatings too, so don't leave glasses on a car dashboard in the sun. If the coating starts to look scratched, cloudy or crazed (covered in fine cracks), ask at our optical about new lenses.

Choosing anti-reflective lenses at our optical

Our on-site optical boutique, in the same office as our eye doctors in Los Angeles, fills prescriptions from their exams. Our experienced opticians help you choose frames that suit your features and lifestyle, from designer brands such as Tom Ford and ic! berlin to prescription sunglasses.

Lens choices follow your eyes and your day. For eyes with naturally large pupils, we choose lens designs and coatings with that in mind. Prescription sunglasses, polarized lenses included, are made in the same optical.

Start with a comprehensive eye exam so your prescription is current, then visit our optical boutique the same day.

Questions patients ask

Does anti-reflective coating help with eye strain?

It may make screen work more comfortable. The AOA says special lens designs, lens powers, tints or coatings may help with visual comfort at the computer. An AR coating cuts reflections on your lenses; for glare on the screen itself, the AOA suggests a screen glare filter when you can't reduce glare from the lights around you. Eye strain from screens has other causes too, including poor lighting, the wrong viewing distance, poor posture and uncorrected vision problems. Our page on computer vision syndrome covers what helps.

Does anti-reflective coating block UV light?

Not by itself: how much UV a clear lens blocks depends on the lens material and any UV treatment, so ask what your lenses block. For sunglasses, the FDA advises a UV400 rating or "100% UV protection" on the label; those block more than 99% of UVA and UVB radiation. Lens darkness is no guide: it doesn't indicate how well a lens shields your eyes from UV, and light tints can offer the same protection as very dark lenses.

Can anti-reflective glasses help dry eyes?

Not directly. A coating cuts reflections; it does nothing for the tear film. Dry eye happens when your eyes don't make enough tears to stay wet or when your tears don't work correctly, and it can blur vision and make your eyes sensitive to light. Artificial tears are the most common treatment for mild dry eye, and taking breaks from screens and wearing wraparound sunglasses outside help too. Our dry eye care starts by finding the cause.

Can anti-reflective coating help with night blindness?

No. Night blindness, poor vision in dim light, comes from the eye itself, so a lens coating can't fix it. In adults, a cataract is one possible cause: not seeing well at night is one of its symptoms. Retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic eye diseases, usually begins with loss of night vision in childhood. Our page on night vision and glare covers the other causes.

Are polarized sunglasses the same as anti-glare glasses?

No, they do different jobs. An anti-reflective coating cuts reflections off the lens surfaces themselves and works on clear lenses day and night. Polarized lenses are sun lenses that cut the glare bouncing off water, windshields and pavement, as our guide to UV protection and sunglasses explains. A pair of prescription sunglasses can have both. Neither feature tells you about UV protection, so also look for a UV400 rating or "100% UV protection" on the label.

Sources

Written by

Dr. Bijan Cohenmehr, OD

Founder of Cohenmehr Optometry, in practice for over 40 years. He leads the practice’s dry eye care and myopia management. A graduate of SUNY College of Optometry.

About Dr. Bijan →

Anti-Reflective Coating on Glasses: What It Does and When It's Worth It