Protecting your eyes in Cold Weather, Prescription options

Posted by Jacob Huseby on Sep 17th 2020

Protecting your eyes in Cold Weather, Prescription options

Dear SkiPost,

I am an avid Nordic skier and biker (Road and MTB). I wear sport sunglasses

for these activities. This is not easy. I need prescription lenses. As I

have gotten older, my eyes have begun to tear-up in cold weather. These

tears can get coated on my lenses with my eyelashes, rendering the glasses

useless in freezing weather.

I am wondering if the new Bliz Matrix or maybe the Fusion, with larger wrap

around lenses prevent tearing to any degree? If so, are they available with

prescriptions? Will they be available with your photochromatic technology?

Thanks,

-S


Hi S,

To solve your problem, let's first take a step back to understand what is going on when the wind makes contact with your eyes, and why that can be problematic. What's happening here is that the wind is making contact with your eyes and drying them out. Your body's natural response is to activate the lacrimal glands, and produce and excessive amount of tears. With the influx of tears, you will then experience the freezing on your lenses and discomfort while outside. Further, the needs for eyewear in nordic skiing are tricky because you must also maintain ventilation to prevent the lenses from fogging up.

For you, I have a few options that may suite your needs.

My first recommendation would be to get a pair of Bliz Vision Sunglasses. These glasses offer a large shield that sits farther off the face than our Matrix and Fusion. The Bliz Vision are designed to accommodate an optical insert for Rx. While they have the large surface area to protect your eyes from the wind, they also feature adjustable nose and ear pieces to dial in your fit to prevent them from fogging up. The Fusion, and Matrix models sit too close to the face to accommodate an optical insert, and the lenses curvature does not allow for RX lenses. Photochromatic and nordic light contrast are not available for the Vision, but I would keep an eye out for our new releases... My second recommendation would be to go with a pair of OTG (over the glasses) proflip goggles. These goggles were made with nordic skiing in mind and will fit over any prescription glasses while also being able to flip up to move them out of the way. My third and final pick for you would be a pair of Drop goggles for MTB. Bliz Drop are our popular Edge Goggles but summer-ized by including additional ventilation and an option for a clear lens.

Happy Trails,

Jacob Huseby

Category Manager - Nordic and Endurance Sports

Bliz Active Eyewear | Start Ski Wax & Poles | Swenor Rollerskis | Anti-Freeze Apparel