Short answer: no, you do not need a prescription to buy blue light glasses in Canada, and you do not need an eye exam either. Non prescription glasses are simply glasses with a lens that does not correct your vision. There are three kinds sold here: plain fashion frames, blue light filtering frames, and readers. Only readers change what you see, because they magnify. Everything we sell is the middle kind, which means a clear lens with no magnification and no strength to choose.
This is the question that stops most people from ordering. They want a pair for screen work, then wonder whether buying glasses without seeing an optometrist first is allowed, or sensible, or even safe. The short answer above covers the legal part. The rest of this page covers the part that actually matters, which is working out whether these are the right thing for you at all, and how to pick a pair when you have no prescription to guide you.
Start with three questions
Before you look at a single frame, answer these. They decide everything.
1. Is the text on your screen blurry or hard to read?
Then your issue is focus, not blue light, and no filtering lens will fix it. See an optometrist. You may need a prescription, or reading magnification. Nothing on our site will help you, and we would rather say that than take the order.
2. Is your screen perfectly sharp, but your eyes feel tired, dry or strained after a long day?
This is the group non prescription blue light glasses are made for. No vision correction needed, because there is nothing to correct.
3. Do you just want the look of glasses?
Plain non prescription frames do that. So do ours, with the filtering as a bonus rather than the reason.
If you answered yes to the first question, stop here and book an eye test. If you answered yes to the second or third, keep reading.
What “non prescription” actually means
A prescription lens is ground to a specific strength to correct how your eye focuses light. It is measured by an optometrist and it is personal to you.
A non prescription lens is not ground to any strength. It is flat in optical terms. Put it on and the world looks exactly as it did a second earlier, same sharpness, same distance, same everything. That is the whole definition. It says nothing about quality, and nothing about what else the lens might do.
Which is why a non prescription lens can still be doing a job. Ours carries a filter that blocks part of the blue light coming off a screen, explained in full in what blue light glasses are and whether they work. The filter does not bend light or change focus. It just removes some of one colour band on the way through.
The three kinds sold in Canada
“Non prescription glasses” covers three quite different products, and people regularly buy the wrong one.
| Kind | Does it magnify? | Does it change what you see? | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain or fashion frames | No | No | Anyone who wants the look. The lens does nothing at all. |
|
Blue light frames (what we sell) |
No | No change to focus. A faint warmth at most. | People with fine vision who spend hours on screens. |
| Readers | Yes, +1.00, +1.50 and so on | Yes. Close print sharpens, distance blurs. | People who struggle with small print up close. |
The mistake we see most often is buying readers for screen work. Readers are built for something held roughly 35 centimetres away, like a book. Your monitor sits closer to 60 centimetres. At that distance the magnification is wrong, so the screen softens and everything behind it goes blurry, and people end up leaning forward all day. That is the neck ache people blame on their eyes.
We set the difference out properly in computer glasses vs reading glasses. If there is any chance you need magnification, read that before you order anything.
Every one of our 63 frames is the middle row. Clear lens, no magnification, no strengths to pick from. The whole computer glasses range works this way.
What you still should not skip an optometrist for
We sell glasses. We are not going to pretend they replace an eye test. Book one if any of this applies:
- Text looks blurry at any distance, on screen or on paper
- Headaches that keep coming back, especially with vision changes
- Double vision, eye pain, or sudden floaters or flashes
- You are over 40 and small print has started getting harder
- You are overdue for a routine exam
On that last one, the Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends a comprehensive eye exam every two to three years between 20 and 39, every two years between 40 and 64, and once a year from 65, for healthy adults with no symptoms. If you are past that, book one.
None of those are blue light problems and a filtering lens will not touch them. An eye exam also catches things that have nothing to do with screens at all.
And if screen fatigue is your issue, the filter is only part of the answer. In 2023 a Cochrane review pooled 17 randomised trials covering 619 people and concluded that blue light filtering lenses may not reduce eye strain from computer use at all. Cochrane reviews are about as careful as evidence gets, and that is a seller telling you the main claim in this industry is not well supported.
What does help is more boring: blinking more, looking away from one fixed distance, and dealing with dry office air. We go through it in digital eye strain, causes and prevention.
How to choose when you have no prescription to go on
With a prescription, the optician handles fit. Buying without one, fit is entirely on you, and it is the main reason non prescription glasses get worn twice and abandoned.
Frame width is the number that matters
Frame width is the total outside width, hinge to hinge, in millimetres. It decides whether a pair grips your temples, sits level, or slides down your nose.
Finding yours takes thirty seconds. Take any glasses or sunglasses you already own and like. Lay them flat and measure straight across the front, outer hinge to outer hinge. Match that number within about 3 mm and a new pair will feel familiar on day one.
We publish the frame width, bridge, lens size, temple length and weight on all 63 frames. Our range runs from 124 mm to 151 mm, so there is a band for most faces:
- 124 to 129 mm — 11 frames, mostly children and narrow adult faces, such as the Indland at 124 mm
- 130 to 139 mm — 21 frames, including the Clarity at 132 mm and the Pacific at 139 mm
- 140 to 144 mm — 24 frames, the most common adult size, including the Scholar
- 145 to 151 mm — 7 frames for wider faces, such as the Station at 145 mm and the Boreal at 146 mm
Weight, if you wear them all day
Our lightest frame, the Shadow, is 10.2 grams. Our heaviest is 35 grams, nearly three and a half times as much. Across an eight hour day you feel that on the bridge of your nose. For desk work, stay under about 20 grams. For an evening, it barely matters.
Be honest about the filtering claim
We say our clear lenses filter 85 to 90 percent of blue light. That figure describes the strongest part of the range, not every wavelength. Clear lenses filter hardest near 400 nanometres and much more gently around 450 to 460, which is where screens emit most of their blue. We would rather you knew that from us.
It also means the home tests you have seen are less useful than they look, because the little blue LED pens sellers include emit violet light near 400 nm, not the wavelength your monitor lives at. We explain which tests prove what in how to test blue light glasses at home.
What they cost
Without a prescription there is no lens grinding, no fitting appointment and no optician's time, so the price is just frame and lens. Our range runs from $22.94 to $47.95 and nothing is over $48, including the Current at $22.94 and the Monarch at $47.95.
Price and filtering are not closely linked. A clear blue light lens is not costly to make, so a $25 pair and a $90 pair can filter about the same. What more money buys is frame material, hinge quality and finish. We break the whole category down in what blue light glasses cost in Canada, and we compare the big retailers in Amazon, Walmart and Costco.
Where to start
Browse by who it is for: men's frames, women's frames, children's frames, or the full range. If you game, start with gaming glasses, where the clear lens choice matters more than anywhere else.
Common questions
Do you need a prescription for blue light glasses?
No. Blue light glasses do not correct vision, so there is nothing for an optometrist to measure. You can buy them in Canada without a prescription and without an eye exam. Blue light filtering can also be added to prescription lenses, but that is a separate product bought through an optical retailer.
Are non prescription glasses bad for your eyes?
No. A non prescription lens does not change how your eye focuses, so wearing one does nothing to your vision either way. The risk is different: if you actually need correction and wear non prescription glasses instead, you are leaving a real problem untreated. That is a reason to get an eye test, not a reason to avoid these.
Can I wear blue light glasses without a prescription all day?
Yes. There is no magnification and no correction, so there is no adjustment period and no limit on wear time. Comfort is the only thing that decides it, which comes down to frame width and weight.
What is the difference between non prescription glasses and readers?
Readers magnify, non prescription glasses do not. Readers are sold in strengths such as +1.00 or +2.00 and are built for close print. If you wear readers at monitor distance the screen softens and distance blurs. Our frames have no strength at all.
How do I pick a size with no prescription?
Measure a pair you already own across the front, hinge to hinge, in millimetres, and match that figure within about 3 mm. We publish the frame width on all 63 of our frames, from 124 mm to 151 mm, along with bridge, lens size, temple length and weight.
About this guide
BlueLightGlasses.ca is a Canadian store selling non prescription blue light glasses. We are not optometrists and nothing here is medical advice. If your vision is blurry, or you have ongoing headaches or eye pain, see an optometrist rather than buying glasses.
The measurements and prices in this article come from our own product data for all 63 frames and were correct on the date published. The eye exam intervals come from the Canadian Association of Optometrists, and the evidence on eye strain comes from the 2023 Cochrane review, both linked above. Where we were not able to verify something, such as the exact filtering percentage at every wavelength, we have said so rather than rounded it in our favour.
