Computer glasses, the name given to spectacles designed to make looking at any kind of screen less tiring on your eyes, are rarely high-fashion items. They’re designed to perform a function, which doesn’t usually include looking fabulous. Felix Gray doesn’t agree, and has added a new model to its already extensive range of great-looking anti-glare computer glasses — the Kepler.
Taking its inspiration for the name from German mathematician Johannes Kepler is appropriate, given the European styling for the new glasses, which are the first in Felix Gray’s range to combine acetate and metal to create the frame. This feature, along with being the first pair with a nose bridge, gives the Kepler a refined look unlike most other computer glasses you’ll see.
The term digital eyewear is likely more appropriate here, given how they protect your peepers from digital eye strain. The objective of wearing them is to combat dry eyes and blurred vision, avoid headaches, and minimize exposure to blue light emitted from our screens. We stare at a lot of screens for much of the day, so taking some of the strain off our eyes when we can makes a difference in the way we feel.
Felix Gray’s lenses have an anti-glare coating to help our eyes relax and to sharpen vision, plus a clever blue light filter system that’s actually blended into the lens itself. Rather than a yellow-tinged lens — part of what makes other, similar glasses unpleasant to look at — the Kepler’s lens has a synthesized version of a natural blue light blocking pigment along with other materials infused into it that filter out blue light without coloring the lens itself, even at the highest energy wavelengths of 400 to 440nm.
The result should be a pair of beneficial glasses you will actually be confident about wearing. Although prescription lenses aren’t available, Felix Gray told Digital Trends it’s working on providing such an option in 2018. For now, you can add a degree of magnification to turn them into reading glasses. Each pair of Kepler glasses are made to order, cost $125 through the company’s website, and come in three different colors.
Digital eye strain affects 65 percent of Americans, according to The Vision Council, but experts remind us that blue light from a screen isn’t the only factor affecting our sleep, and some suggest that simply staying away from screens for 30-plus minutes before going to bed is enough. Felix Gray has competition from eyewear maker Jins and its varied Jins Screen range. These include both day and night models that can have prescription lenses added to them.
