# How bad are cheap sunglasses?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-cheap-sunglasses/128590>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 15, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-cheap-sunglasses/128590 "2002-09-15T21:58:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-cheap-sunglasses/128590/1 "2002-09-15T21:58:55Z")

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I’ve been looking for a good pair of nice sunglasses. $100+ range. However much to my dismay I’ve not been able to find a pair that looks good on me. I have on the other hand been able to find some nice ones in the $10-$30 range. So my question is, just how bad are the cheap ones? Are the expensive ones really worth it?

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**Author:** ![Peregrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Peregrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peregrine)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2002, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-are-cheap-sunglasses/128590/2 "2002-09-15T22:08:15Z")

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Cecil’s answers the question:[Do old or cheap sunglasses increase the risk of eye damage from ultraviolet rays?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990806.html)

“Assuming you don’t want to spend two grand for gold frames a la Stevie Wonder, you can get shades that effectively block UV for maybe ten to forty bucks.”