My polarised lenses show a pattern on my phone screen – is something wrong?

Don't worry – this is a physical effect, not a fault in the lens.

The effect is called stress birefringence, and it is typical of all polarised lenses, whoever makes them. The polarising film inside a polarised lens is stretched to five times its original size during manufacturing, and the stretching causes microscopic stress in the film. It is a necessary part of how polarisation works.

The pattern is especially visible when you look at the lens through another polarising filter – and the screen of a phone camera has exactly that. This is why the pattern shows so clearly in a photo, even though you don't notice it when you wear the glasses.

For the same reason, with polarised sunglasses:

  • You can see "rainbows" in the rear windows of cars
  • Your phone screen can look darker

These are all completely normal properties of polarisation. The pattern does not affect your vision, the protective properties of the lens or how well the polarisation works in any way. Your lenses are completely fine.

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