Why Reactolite Spectacles?

Well, as stated on previous post; What are Reactolite Spectacles; I literally have to wear sunglases pretty much every time… even dough the sunglasses technology of today use polarized glass or plastic that is pretty clear and enhance your vision; there are people who have special needs like me.

Each brand offers different advantages based on the manufacturing process. At the beginning, the original photocromatic glasses were done 100% of glass and didn´t offer many options in colors and fashion.
ccording to my research, the original reactolite spectacles were done by a company named Corning Medical optics. The original glasses were done only in 2 colors, photogray and photobrown; and these ones are available in the market today; over 35 years later!

As the molecules of silver halide are evenly distributed among the internal structure of the glass, this originals reactolite glasses present the inconvenience of becoming darker in the spots where the glass is thicker to follow the prescription. Also if one eye present a different grade of damage and require different thick of glass, there would be a difference in the darkness of each glass making them unreliable for legally blind people like me.

Obviously, Corning's newest photochromics are SunSensors mid-index gray and brown plastic lenses. Unlike their glass counterparts, SunSensors change within 60 seconds to a uniform color density throughout the lenses, regardless of the prescription or lens thickness, according to the company.
My prescription reading glasses use the old green G-15 tint standard; which is the same tint used by Rayban since it´s beginning.

Besides that, it has the reactolite coating that improve the darkness and protection of my eyes when outside in direct sunlight.

It is a matter of style… I can mask the fact that I am legally blind without my reading glasses with been cool wearing aviator style sunglasses every time!

Reactolite Spectacles

Reactolite/Transition Lenses

What are Reactolite Spectacles?

Well... reactolite spectacles are best known to the common mortals as TRANSITIONS glasses; the ones that are clear indoors and get dark outdoors so they could be worn as sunglasses as well as prescription spectacles. Anyways, reactolite and transitions are brands of these kind of glasses; the correct term should be photocromatic or photocromics.
And why do I want to make a website about reactolite spectacles?

Happens to be that I suffer from a weird hereditary disease that affects my vision. My father had a cataract on his left eye when he was 32 years old. The case was weird enough to make it to the medical papers at that time.

This condition is caused by the "wear and tear" of the crystalline membrane of the eye by the overexposure of your eyes to UV rays. As it is caused by "wear and tear", it is usually presents on people over certain age… and that is what make his case weird; 32 years old people should not get cataracts; just like 10 years old kids should not have heart attacks.

Anyways, after a couple of months of his premature cataract operation, his right eye got a cataract too; so his doctor took me and all my brothers to rigorous exams in order to find out if there was a hereditary condition…
So doctor recommended the use of sunglasses at every time since seems like my iris was lazy… and since I was a kid, I wore sunglasses. Of course, with the time, my vision got deteriorated and I started using prescription glasses as well; and this is where the reactolite spectacles came in the scene.
So… how they made it possible?

Well… the glasses (or plastic, depending of the brand, prescription and other particulars) have a chemical component that rearranges its molecules, absorbing part of the visible light spectrum. This chemical component usually is silver halide or silver chloride; and it reacts to the UV rays. Since UV rays are not present in artificial light, these glasses stay clear indoors… but here goes the trick.

Early reactolite spectacles doesn´t react behind a car windshield because the windshield is treated with silver halide as well to block the UV rays... but nowdays these glasses has advanced so much that they work pretty much in every situation, reacting within 20 seconds providing 100% UV-A and UV-B protection.