Eyewear

Eyewear is a term used to refer to all devices worn over both of a person's eyes, or occasionally a single eye, for one or more of a variety of purposes. Though historically used for vision improvement and correction, eyewear has also evolved into eye protection, for fashion and aesthetic purposes, and starting in the late 20th century, computers and virtual reality.

The primary intention of wearing eyewear can vary based on the need or desire of the wearer. Corrective lenses, such as glasses, contact lenses, and, historically, monocles are used to aid in one's vision and enable users to see clearly. Eyewear also can be used for protection, such as sunglasses which protect wearers from the Sun's ultraviolet rays which are damaging to the eyes when unprotected, eyepatches to protect injured eyes from further damage, or goggles which protect the wearer's eyes from debris, water and other chemicals. Variants of eyewear can conversely inhibit or disable vision for its bearers, such as blindfolds and view-limiting device for humans, blinkers for horses, or blinders for birds, especially poultry. Eyewear also exists for other specialized or niche purposes, such as active shutter 3D systems and anaglyph 3D glasses for stereoscopy, and night-vision goggles for low-light environments.

The eyewear industry is estimated to be valued at US$100 billion as of May 2018. Much of the eyewear industry's prominence and use in fashion occurred in Western cultures during the 1950s, with individual designers and celebrities at the time wearing them in public and increasing the popularity of eyewear, especially sunglasses.^[1] The growth of the industry through the latter half of the 20th century is credited to Luxottica, generally credited with acquiring brands popular with Western culture such as Ray-Ban, Persol, and later Oakley, raising their prices and increasing the perceived status of eyewear in society.^[2][3] The 2010s and early 2020s saw a slowly-more technical focus towards the utility of eyewear, with early experiments such as Google Glass, Microsoft HoloLens and later Apple Vision Pro bringing augmented reality to eyewear; virtual reality headsets also began a growth in popularity in the 2010s.^[4][5][6][7]