+1 for above. Lost many to freestyle and clumsiness (in my case). And the bands did not help always, a leach does help but can get annoying, esp. at freestyle. Except that I don't wear Gath, and ended up getting the eyes done. And you're right: at 45yo, do think about the ROI..

The Wiki entry on sunglasses states: "The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has also reported that "[c]onsumers cannot rely on price as an indicator of quality".[15] One survey even found that a $6.95 pair of generic glasses offered slightly better protection than did expensive Salvatore Ferragamo shades.[16]"

Would like to find that aussie study, but link broken unfortunately. Anyone?
Point is: no it's not the more expensive the better for UV nor polarization. As usual.

I like the little picture found in: http://www.hawaiianlenses.com/1/category/sunglasses%20did%20you%20know9b5efc1981/1.html
Good explanation.

Stuthepirate said..

When i was 28 I had a pterygium removed from my left eye.

Due to 20 years of sailing, surfing and general WA weather (salt and wind) my eye began feeling like sandpaper everytime i closed it.
I found the operation quite traumatising because you have to be awake when the doctor fillets the pterygium off with a scalpel and tweezers.
Since then, the only type of sunnies i use are polarised and i've even started using the ones like they sell on this site when wind surfing.
Can't recommend polarized sunnies enough.

When I was 29 I had a pterygium removed from my R eye (in 1997). I never once had any discomfort from it, but had learned and/or astute blokes say to me mid-conversation; 'Hey, do you know you have a pterygium?!'
Under advice from the surgeon, I had a general anaesthetic, so I wasn't traumatised. I also had an autograft of the conjuctiva, where a triangular piece of the white part of the eye is removed from under the eyelid and sewn into the place of the surgery site.

Girls in the office freaked (including otherwise intelligent graduates) and wouldn't come near me for days with the surgically-haemorrhaged conjunctiva; my eyeball was black. The surgeon warned me about this - but, of course, I was not contagious.

Post-operative drops supplied showed I had an allergy to cortisone-based eyedrops due to a four-fold increase in eyeball internal pressure. This demonstrated that I am pre-disposed to glaucoma...
The discovery of this only came about three weeks post-surgery when a uni lecturer placed magnesium on an over-head projector, and the projected intense bright light gave me pain that wouldn't go away easily.

My pterygium was not encroaching over the cornea as much as Stu's did, but I hesitated for 18 months between seeing the surgeon and having it done - that's enough time to go onto the public hospital waiting list. My experience with the anaesthetist telling me bedside moments before surgery what his fee would be, excesses demanded and later additional fees being asked for from the Private Hospital turned me away from Private Health Insurance.
Yes - the rules have changed nationally; you have to be told in advance what fees will be.