Most people pack their sunglasses away with the beach towels in September. On the coast, I’d keep them out. The winter sun sits low all day and wet sand throws it straight back at you. It’s also the time of year when many beaches lift their dog restrictions, so more of us are out on the sand in the worst of the glare.
Below I go through what to look for on the label, and the options if you already wear glasses.
Why winter glare is worse on the coast
In summer the sun is high and most of the light comes from above, so your brow and the peak of a cap do part of the work. From October to March it comes in at eye level, under the brim of most hats, and stays there for most of the short day.
The coast makes this worse. Light bouncing off water at a shallow angle is mostly horizontal, and that’s the kind your eyes read as glare. Wet sand and a harbour at low tide do the same thing. So does the road along a seafront, as anyone who has driven the front at Weymouth at four o’clock in December will know.
The UV index rarely gets above 2 in a British winter, so the main issue is strain. Two hours of squinting leaves you with a headache and streaming eyes, and on the road it shortens how far ahead you can see. Over many years, wind and reflected UV are also linked to a growth on the surface of the eye called pterygium. It’s common enough among surfers to be known as surfer’s eye.
What to look for on the label
UV400 is the mark that matters. It means the lens blocks light up to 400 nanometres, which covers UVA and UVB, and it should sit alongside a CE or UKCA mark. The College of Optometrists advises checking for these, or for the British Standard BS EN ISO 12312-1, on any pair you buy. How dark the tint is tells you nothing about UV protection. A dark lens with no UV filter can do more harm than no lens at all, because your pupils widen behind it.
Polarised lenses are the best choice on water and wet sand, because the filter removes horizontal light. They aren’t perfect, though. Some car dashboards and phone screens look dark or striped through them, and they can hide patches of ice on a road.
Photochromic lenses, the ones that darken in daylight and clear indoors, are a decent all-rounder with one catch. They react to UV, and a windscreen filters most of it out, so they barely darken in the car. On the plus side they go darker in cold air, so they do better in winter than in summer.
Choosing a frame for the wind
An onshore wind makes your eyes stream whether the sun’s out or not. A frame that sits close to your face and wraps a little at the sides keeps most of it out, and bigger lenses help. Contact lens wearers notice the difference most, because wind dries lenses out quickly.
Heading onto the water? I’d recommend a retaining strap or a frame that floats. Standard frames sink.
If you wear glasses
You have three options:
- Clip-on tints. Cheap, but they scratch easily and come off in a gust.
- Photochromic prescription lenses, with the windscreen limitation above.
- A separate pair of prescription sunglasses, which I think is the most practical option for anyone who spends a lot of time on the coast.
Prices have come down a lot. Most online opticians can add a UV400 tint to a single-vision prescription, and polarised lenses are usually offered as an option. If you’re not sure which frame shape suits you, a guide to which glasses suit your face will narrow it down before you order.
Keep one pair in the car and another with your walking kit. They’ll get more use between now and March than they did all summer.
Further reading
- Winter on the UK coast has ideas for family beach walks and beachcombing in the colder months.
- Dog-friendly beaches lists where restrictions lift over the winter.
- The College of Optometrists’ eye protection advice covers what to look for on a pair of sunglasses.