No medical exemption in California lets you put tinted film on your front side windows. A letter from a physician or optometrist allows a removable sun shade on those windows, and only in daylight. A certificate from a dermatologist allows clear UV-blocking film.
You’ll find tint sites that say a doctor’s note gets you 20% or 35% film on the front doors. Vehicle Code section 26708 says otherwise, and a shop that installs it is selling you a ticket.
What’s legal, window by window
| Window | What’s allowed | What you keep with you |
|---|---|---|
| Front side windows, any driver | Clear, colorless film that lets in at least 88% of light on its own and blocks UVA. The window must still measure at least 70% with the film on. | The installer’s signed certificate |
| Front side windows, with a physician or optometrist letter | The clear film above, plus a removable sun shade: green, gray, or neutral smoke, at least 35% light, never after dark. Still no tinted film. | The letter, carried by the driver or front passenger it covers |
| Any window, windshield included, with a dermatologist certificate | Clear, colorless UV-blocking film rated 88% or higher | The dermatologist’s certificate |
| Windshield, any driver | A strip along the top, with its bottom edge at least 29 inches above the driver’s seat. Not red or amber. | Nothing |
| Rear side windows | Any darkness | Nothing |
| Rear window | Any darkness, if the car has outside mirrors on both sides | Nothing |
Our California window tint law guide covers the rest of the rules, including what to do if you get a tint ticket.
Front windows: clear film is legal for everyone
California’s front-window rule, VC 26708(d), allows one kind of film on the driver and front passenger windows: clear and colorless. The film has to let through at least 88% of visible light before it goes on the glass. Once it’s installed, the window has to measure at least 70%. The film has to block UVA rays. And the driver has to keep a certificate in the car, signed by the installing shop, that names the shop and the film’s maker with their full street addresses.
That rules out every tinted film. A 70% film fails the 88% test on its own, whatever the window reads afterward.
For a driver who is sensitive to sun or glare, clear ceramic film is the legal option up front, and it does more than plain clear film. LLumar and SunTek, two of the brands we install, both make a clear nano-ceramic line: LLumar AIR and SunTek CoolSight. Both makers describe it as nearly invisible on the glass and built to reject heat and block UV. LLumar AIR comes in two shades, AIR 80 and AIR 90, and only film that passes the 88% test on its own can go on the front side windows.
You don’t need a medical letter for any of this. Our carbon vs. ceramic tint guide covers how ceramic film compares, and our California tint percentage guide shows what each shade looks like.
The two medical exemptions
California’s medical exemptions are narrower than most people think, and neither one allows dark film up front. With a signed letter from a licensed physician or optometrist, you can use a removable sun shade on the front side windows, like a roller shade or a framed screen that lets in at least 35% of light. It can’t be film stuck to the glass, and it has to come down after dark. Separately, a certificate from a licensed dermatologist allows clear UV-blocking film, rated 88% or higher, on any window, including the windshield.
The physician or optometrist letter
This exemption is VC 26708(b)(10), and the shade rules are in VC 26708.2. The statute describes the letter as one “signed by a licensed physician and surgeon certifying that the person must be shaded from the sun due to a medical condition.” A licensed optometrist can sign one instead, for a visual condition. The letter certifies that you need shade. It doesn’t approve darker tint, and the law doesn’t let it.
The letter can cover the driver or the front-seat passenger, and that person has to have it with them. If the person it covers isn’t in the front seat, the exemption doesn’t apply.
The shade has to meet VC 26708.2:
- It has to come off. It’s held in place by a frame, a rigid panel with temporary fasteners, or a roller shade.
- A see-through shade must be green, gray, or neutral smoke and let in at least 35% of light.
- A louvered or mesh-style shade needs an even pattern that’s at least 35% open.
- Neither side of the shade can reflect more than 35% of light.
And it can’t be used during darkness. The Vehicle Code (VC 280) defines darkness as half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise, plus any other time you can’t clearly see a person or car 1,000 feet away.
The dermatologist certificate
VC 26708(e) is the other exemption, and it covers clear film, not shades. A licensed dermatologist certifies that you “should not be exposed to ultraviolet rays because of a medical condition that necessitates clear, colorless, and transparent film material.” With that certificate, clear UV-blocking film can go on any window, windshield included. The film rules match the front-window rule: 88% or better on its own, 70% or better on the glass.
Who qualifies
Your doctor decides. The statute doesn’t list conditions. People ask about these letters for lupus, xeroderma pigmentosum, porphyria, and light sensitivity after eye surgery, but those are examples, not a legal list. We’re a film shop, not a medical or legal authority, so that call isn’t ours to make.
How to get a medical tint exemption in California
There are two routes, and they end in different places. A physician or optometrist letter gets you a removable shade on the front side windows. A dermatologist certificate gets you clear UV film on any window, windshield included. Neither one gets you tinted film.
With a physician or optometrist letter
- Ask your doctor. Tell them the letter is for California Vehicle Code 26708(b)(10). A physician certifies that you must be shaded from the sun because of a medical condition. An optometrist certifies it for a visual condition. Whether you qualify is their call.
- Get the letter signed. The statute calls it “a letter or other document” and doesn’t set a form.
- Get a shade that meets the VC 26708.2 rules above. Film stuck to the glass doesn’t count.
- Keep the letter on you, in your wallet or bag. The statute says the person it covers has to have it “in their possession.” Unlike the rules for the installer and dermatologist certificates, it doesn’t add “or within the vehicle.”
- Take the shade down after dark.
Section 26708(b)(10) asks only that the person it covers have the letter with them. It doesn’t mention the DMV or any filing.
With a dermatologist certificate
- See a licensed dermatologist. The certificate has to say you should not be exposed to ultraviolet rays because of a medical condition that calls for clear film (VC 26708(e)).
- Have clear UV-blocking film installed. It has to let in at least 88% of light on its own, and the window has to measure at least 70% with it on. It can go on any window, including the windshield.
- Keep the certificate with you or in the car.
Back windows: as dark as you like
The side windows behind the driver have no darkness limit in California (VC 26708(b)(4)). Neither does the rear window, as long as the car has outside mirrors on both sides that show the driver the road at least 200 feet back (VC 26708(b)(8)). Nearly every modern car has both.
That matters if the person who needs shade rides in back. A passenger with a light-sensitive condition can sit behind 5% film with no letter at all.
The windshield
Without a dermatologist certificate, the only tint allowed on a windshield is a strip across the top. Its bottom edge has to sit at least 29 inches above the driver’s seat, measured with the seat all the way back and down (VC 26708(c)). The strip can’t be red or amber, can’t carry opaque lettering, and can’t reflect more glare than the bare windshield. Below that line, the glass stays clear.
With a dermatologist certificate, clear UV film rated 88% or higher can cover the whole windshield.
Frequently asked questions
Can a medical exemption let me put dark tint on my front windows?
No. A letter from a licensed physician or optometrist allows a removable sun shade on the front side windows, not film. The shade has to let in at least 35% of light, and it can’t be used after dark. No California medical exemption allows tinted film on the front side windows.
What can I legally put on my front windows?
Clear, colorless film that lets in at least 88% of light on its own and blocks UVA rays. The window has to measure at least 70% with the film on, and you need to keep the installer’s signed certificate in the car. Clear ceramic film that meets the 88% rule is legal for any driver, with no medical letter.
Does a medical exemption cover the windshield?
Only a certificate from a licensed dermatologist does, and it covers clear UV-blocking film rated 88% or higher, not tint. Without that certificate, the only tint allowed on the windshield is a strip along the top whose bottom edge sits at least 29 inches above the driver’s seat. The strip can’t be red or amber.
How dark can I go on the back windows?
As dark as you want. California has no darkness limit for the side windows behind the driver. The rear window has no limit either, as long as the car has outside mirrors on both sides.
Who decides if my condition qualifies?
Your doctor. The law doesn’t list qualifying conditions. A licensed physician or optometrist decides whether you need to be shaded from the sun, and a licensed dermatologist decides whether you need clear UV film. We’re a film shop, not a medical or legal authority, so we can’t tell you whether you qualify.
What does the doctor’s letter have to say?
The Vehicle Code describes it as a letter signed by a licensed physician and surgeon certifying that the person must be shaded from the sun due to a medical condition. A licensed optometrist can sign one for a visual condition. The letter covers the driver or front-seat passenger, who has to have it with them. It allows a removable shade, not darker tint.
Can I use the sun shade at night?
No. Shades allowed under a physician or optometrist letter can’t be used during darkness. The Vehicle Code defines darkness as half an hour after sunset to half an hour before sunrise, and any other time you can’t clearly see a person or vehicle 1,000 feet away.
Is there a DMV form for a tint medical exemption in California?
Section 26708 of the Vehicle Code, which sets the exemption, doesn’t call for one. Subsection (b)(10) asks for a signed letter from a licensed physician or optometrist, kept by the driver or front-seat passenger it covers. It doesn’t mention the DMV or any filing. The letter allows a removable sun shade on the front side windows, not tinted film.
How do I get a window tint medical exemption in California?
Ask a licensed physician or optometrist for a signed letter certifying that you must be shaded from the sun because of a medical or visual condition. Keep the letter with you, and on the front side windows use only a removable shade that meets VC 26708.2, never after dark. The other route is a certificate from a licensed dermatologist, which allows clear UV film on any window, including the windshield.
Clear ceramic up front, darker film in back
California law doesn’t allow tinted film on your front side windows, with a letter or without one. What we can do is install clear ceramic film on the front side windows that’s legal for any driver, and darker film on the rear side windows and rear window. Call our Costa Mesa shop at (949) 642-1121, or request an automotive quote.