Sunglasses, pupil dilation, and solar ultraviolet irradiation of the human lens and retina.
The supposition that, because of pupil dilation, there are greater influxes of solar UV and short-wavelength visibile radiation when some sunglasses are worn is wrong. It is based on an incomplete and, therefore, misleading analysis. That analysis is particularly defective in ignoring the attenuation of the more highly actinic shorter wavelengths. This paper provides the most nearly complete analysis that is now possible. It treats both the geometric and radiometric aspects of ocular irradiation. A survey of over 400 retail sunglass lenses of all types showed that all would reduce UV radiation densities in all parts of the crystalline lens and on the retina. With spectral actinic weighting, the effective reductions would be even greater.
Hoover
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HL