Personal Health : Anti-Glare Lens Coating Allows Eyeglass Wearers to See the Difference

Anti-reflection lenses--available in prescription or non-prescription glasses--promise to cut down the sometimes blinding glare from oncoming traffic, office lights, computers and even those megawatt Dodger Stadium lights. Some of the eight manufacturers promise a host of interpersonal benefits as well, claiming the special lens coating will “showcase” the eyes and even promote better eye contact.

Bespectacled news anchors discovered them first, followed by other style-conscious eyeglass wearers, computer users and night drivers. Now, increasing numbers of everyday consumers are plunking down the money even though the special coating costs extra.

“At least 50% of our prescription eyeglass wearers now order the anti-reflective coating,” says Devorah Goldberg, an optician at Specs Appeal in West Hollywood. Retail firms here charge about $35-$50 extra for the coating, but a Florida mail order firm, Deer Creek Products, charges only $6.95 for non-prescription anti-glare specs advertised as “night driving” glasses.

Popular for several years in Europe, the anti-reflective coating debuted here about 18 months ago. The coating, applied to the front and back of the lens, changes the way the light impacts on the lens. It reduces the amount of light that bounces off the lens, causing glare, and increases the light reaching the eye. “Without the coating, plastic lenses allow about 92% of light into the eye,” says Herb Ishii, of iCOAT, a manufacturer. “With the coating, 99.5% of the light enters.”

Who needs these glasses? Eye care specialists don’t agree. Two opinions:

“Most people don’t need them, even though they do keep light from bouncing around and reduce glare,” says Dr. Wayne Fung, a San Francisco ophthalmologist who is a spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

“The anti-reflective coating might have vision benefits as well as cosmetic,” counters Dr. Stephen Miller, an optometrist at the American Optometric Assn., “because it could reduce eye strain.”

But both eye specialist recommend them for older drivers with night-vision problems.

However, the coated glasses, which require special cleaners, do scratch easily. “I wore them for about six months and could see better, especially at night,” says David Cottun, an optician at Lens Crafters in Burbank. “But I gave them up because they became excessively scratched.” The optician’s right lens was in constant contact with microscope-like equipment that scraped it. But bad habits were to blame too. “Like most everyone else,” he says, “I wasn’t as careful as I should have been about cleaning them.”

Female Appetites

Women have long complained that they eat like a glutton one day and the proverbial bird the next. Now, Australian researchers have found that women’s appetites are especially apt to wane midway through their menstrual cycle.

In a University of Sydney study, just published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 18 women kept track of their food intake for a month. At mid-cycle, the women’s average number of calories was 1,875 a day, compared to 2,100 or more calories at other times in the cycle. The reduced food intake coincides with ovulation, a time when the level of the hormone estrogen, believed to suppress appetites, is at its peak.

When women dieters suddenly start eating more at the end of their cycle, they often worry they have blown their diet. But Marina del Rey dietitian Bonnie Modugno says appetite fluctuations are a natural phenomenon, noting that the Australian study may help them to plan an effective weight loss program.

First-Born Study

First-borns have long enjoyed reputations as being leaders, but a new study suggests they’re also likely to grow up to be spoiled brats.

Charles E. Joubert, professor of psychology at the University of North Alabama who studied 29 first-borns, 33 middle-borns and 43 last-borns, found first-borns scored higher on a narcissism test, which measured such attributes as self-absorption, lack of empathy and a grandiose sense of self-importance. Gender was a factor too. First-born men scored even higher than first-born women.

Parental pampering may be to blame for first-borns’ narcissism. “For a few years, they are often the little kings or queens of the house,” Joubert says. “They could grow up with the idea that the world revolves around them.”

Although other researchers have suggested a link between first-born birth order and lack of empathy, UCLA psychologist Frederick Frankel thinks calling first-borns narcissistic is taking it too far. “Narcissism implies a pathological condition,” he says. First-borns may tend to be self-centered, he admits, “but it doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be sympathetic. Being self-centered is a quality, I think, necessary for leadership.”

Nonetheless, what’s the best way to deal with a narcissistic first-born spouse or friend? “Point out that others have needs and demands too,” Joubert says. “In some cases, it might be a real revelation to them, and they won’t take offense.”

For the record, both Frankel and Joubert are first-borns.