UV protection in daily life

UV light can damage your eyes as well as your skin – and not just when the sun is shining. Thus not only sunglass lenses, but also normal spectacle lenses should have a special UV filter with protection up to 400 nm¹ to effectively protect your eyes from UV radiation. With sunglasses, however, UV protection should not be confused with glare protection: even sunglasses without a UV filter reduce the intensity of the sunlight and consequently provide glare protection. However, this only minimizes brightness, not the level of UV radiation. UV rays not only come through, but can sometimes do more damage than without sunglasses. The dark lenses cause the pupil to expand, letting in even more UV light. So make sure you only purchase sunglass lenses with optimum protection against glare, reflections and damaging UV radiation. When buying spectacle lenses, always check that they offer UV protection up to 400 nm1. If the salesperson can't give you any information or only very imprecise details about the level of protection offered by the sunglass lenses, you shouldn't buy them.

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While there is less UV radiation in the shade than in direct sunlight, up to 50 percent of harmful UV radiation can still reach you. It's even possible to get a harmful dose of UV light under a patio umbrella or awning. Buildings, water and sand reflect up to 85 percent of radiation.  UV radiation even penetrates the surface of the water, so be careful when swimming: at a depth of one meter, UV-A radiation can still have an intensity of 75 percent, UV-B radiation an intensity of 50 percent. Make sure you cover your face and body with a suitable, waterproof sun cream. Since there are different types of UV radiation and people react differently to these depending on their skin type, sun creams have been specially adapted to meet these needs.

Clothing is a good form of sun protection for the outdoors. Together with an outstanding pair of sunglasses for your eyes and sun cream for your skin, you'll enjoy effective, protection for your entire body – assuming you're wearing the right clothes. While any piece of clothing protects against harmful UV radiation, how well it does this depends on two factors: the weave and the thickness of the cloth. Keep the following rule of thumb in mind: the tighter the weave, the less UV light can reach your skin. While white cotton or linen t-shirts are especially popular on hot days, they offer little protection and let through a large portion of UV radiation. Clothes made of synthetic fibres like polyester offer better protection because they can be manufactured and processed with tightly-woven fibres. The density of cotton fibres depends on the cotton itself. Amongst the natural materials, natural silk offers a high UV protection factor: the fibres feature matting components which reflect and absorb UV rays. The "ultraviolet protection factor" (UPF) indicates the level of protection offered by special UV clothing. This tells you how much longer you can spend in the sun without damage – much like the sun protection factor of a sun cream. When purchasing special clothing or swimwear with UV protection, make sure has the UV standard 801 classification in addition to the sun protection factor. This guarantees that your clothes will afford UV protection not only when they're unstretched and dry, but also after they're stretched out and wet. This way the UV light will be blocked effectively in any situation.