Prescription glasses and 405nm lasers

I'm about to buy new prescription glasses and so far the best compromise between thinness and chromatic aberration is a material with an index of refraction of 1.6 and an ABBE number of 41. It also comes with "400nm UV filter". No further specifications (such as a transmission vs. WL curve) are given, and glasses sellers around here don't know anything about optics.

Does anyone have any experience with similar glasses? Will they affect/reduce my ability to view 405nm lasers?

BTW: my current glasses are polycarbonate and I can see 405nm just fine, but they have way too much chromatic aberration.

I seem to recall running into this situation a year or so ago. I have two pairs, an ordinary pair and one that goes dark in the sun (UV reactance). Both polycarbonate. The pair that goes dark in the sun noticeably reduce the visibility of a 405nm beam and dot, the regular pair it does not. The UV reaction pair also have anti-glare coating, but I doubt it's that. I just think that 405nm is close enough to UV that it is affected by the glasses. If I shine the laser at them it also stimulate the coating and draws a black line.

Bring a small pen laser to the place of sale, and try for yourself.

trencheel303 said:

I seem to recall running into this situation a year or so ago. I have two pairs, an ordinary pair and one that goes dark in the sun (UV reactance). Both polycarbonate. The pair that goes dark in the sun noticeably reduce the visibility of a 405nm beam and dot, the regular pair it does not. The UV reaction pair also have anti-glare coating, but I doubt it's that. I just think that 405nm is close enough to UV that it is affected by the glasses. If I shine the laser at them it also stimulate the coating and draws a black line.

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Thanks for the info, but I don't think that material is the same

USAbro said:

Bring a small pen laser to the place of sale, and try for yourself.

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They're made to order. They don't have any "for display".

I have UV-reactive glass lenses and I can see 405nm just fine. I had no trouble seeing it with polycarbonate lenses either. Other than scratch resistance, the only difference I've noticed is that my glass lenses will react to a wider range of wavelengths, all the way into the green part of the spectrum. This makes them more useful when driving a car in sunny conditions – the window glass blocks all of the UV and so polycarbonate won't darken at all.

Neither my glass lenses nor polycarbonate lenses have given me any trouble with unwanted darkening while viewing short-wavelength lasers. They only darken when the beam goes through the glass, which is something that should be avoided for safety reasons.

Honestly, I recommend glass lenses simply for scratch resistance. I strongly doubt if they will have any bad effect on your laser viewing abilities. In fact, the lack of scratches will improve it. Your eye doctor will probably say something about glass lenses being heavier than poly, but TBH I never noticed a difference at all. Have been wearing these glass lenses for two years now and there isn't a single scratch on them – such would definitely NOT be the case for polycarbonate.

Wish it was that simple, they don't sell glass lenses here anymore, period :/
I also liked them better than plastic ones.

My polycarbonate lenses that I have had for two years haven't a scratch on them either. Well, I think they're polycarbonate. Certainly feel like it.

Have gone through all kinds of lenses over the years... currently wearing ultra thin flat curve carl zeiss lens with velocity self tinting. Aside from the fact that they will turn dark when exposed to uv (including 405nm) to almost the same degree as medium dark sunglasses, I have no issues with seeing any wavelengths. Glass and even polycarb are not an option for me anymore since my prescription is rather high.

trencheel303 said:

My polycarbonate lenses that I have had for two years haven't a scratch on them either. Well, I think they're polycarbonate. Certainly feel like it.

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Nonsense. Clearly they are transparent aluminum. McCoy would agree.

My situation is similar to yours, IE. I'm close to the limit of most poly lenses, and if I don't get one with high index of refraction it'll be way too thick.

I also try to stick to frames with small lenses, helps a lot, but I still can't get away from the fact that one eye looks slightly larger than the other from the other side. (My right eye is much worse.)

I have a bit of that effect too. Certainly going with a smaller frame this time!

I have similar glasses and while I am no expert, I have no problem seeing 405nm lasers out of them