Can Gunnar Glasses Keep Your Eyes from Stinging After Hours at the Computer?

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I’m somewhat obsessive about seeing clearly, forever wiping my glasses with one of those special rags from the optometrist, so one of the devices I’ve seen at CES that I’d most like to try out are Gunnar glasses.

The theory is that these specially tinted, wraparound specs fight many of the factors involved with staring at a computer monitor that cause eyestrain. First off, they’re calibrated to focus best at the distance at which most people keep their screen. Lots of glasses are set to work well when you’re reading a book, but computer screens are typically farther from your eyes than a paperback.

Also, people tend to blink less when they stare at a screen, which leads their eyes to dry up. Gunnar glasses don’t force you to blink, but because they wrap closely around your head, they raise the humidity near your eyes, keeping them moist, according to a Gunnar spokesman.

Finally, the tint deals with an unpleasant fact of most offices. Florescent lights produce lots of blues and greens, but the human eye is poorly equipped to handle those parts of the spectrum. The yellowish tint of Gunnar glasses makes everything seem warmer and more soothing.

If you’ve got perfect vision, you can pick up Gunnar glasses over the counter for somewhere between $100 and $180. If you need a prescription pair, they get more pricey, as much as $600 for a pair with progressive lenses. But hey, that’s a small price to pay for both feeling better and looking like Bono.