Ever wonder why the pirates of old wore patches over one eye? Probably not, because we’ve always assumed that they lost an eye in some grisly hand to hand combat. Wearing the patch was simply the best cosmetic solution at that time to cover the empty socket – right?
Well, that may have been true for some, but the real reason most of them wore the patch was to preserve their night vision so they could quickly adapt to the low light conditions below deck during the day. They simply flipped up the patch after going below deck.
Special ops snipers, like Navy SEALs, avoid bright lights and wear sunglasses during the daylight hours prior to night operations to ensure that their eyes are fully dark adapted. We now know that it can take an hour or more for our eyes to fully re-adapt after being exposed to outdoor lighting – even on cloudy days. Unlike the pirates of old, snipers need both eyes to spot targets in low light conditions, and they can’t wait an hour for this to happen after being deployed.
(At the end of this article there is a special offer to help you enhance your “low light” vision)
You probably remember what it feels like to walk into a dark movie theater after coming in from outdoors. It takes awhile for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, doesn’t it?
Rhodopsin is the key chemical in the eye’s retinal tissue that enables us to see at night, in movie theaters and even in our homes and offices – where lighting conditions are dimmer than they are outdoors. Rhodopsin is depleted in outdoor light situations and takes almost an hour to re-generate.
So how does this apply to those of us who aren’t pirates or snipers? Well, let’s take a look at what happens every time we step outside to get the mail/newspaper, play with the kids, run an errand, do a little yard work, walk to our car, etc. The rhodopsin in our retinal tissue becomes depleted very quickly, even when it’s cloudy. When we return indoors, it takes almost an hour to regain full visual function – even if we have been outdoors a few minutes.
During that hour of rhodopsin regeneration, our vision isn’t optimal and our performance at work and school will not be as efficient. So should we start wearing patches like the pirates when we go outside during the day? No, thankfully there is an easy solution to this problem.
Putting on our sunglasses before we go outside is one way to handle this. But how many of us are going to grab our shades prior to going outside for a few minutes? The most logical and convenient way to protect our vision is by using Transitions lenses.
Transitions lenses darken automatically as soon as we walk out the door. Our rhodopsin is protected and when we return indoors our eyes can function normally. The lenses lighten back up automatically and are ready for the next time we need to make a quick trip outdoors.
We are currently offering a significant discount on Transitions during the month of February and we guarantee your satisfaction with this great product. You can download the discount coupon by
Or, to learn more about how this technology might work for you, give us a call at 641-394-2326.