Blue Light and Your Eyes

It's no doubt when asked, many patients are familiar with how UV light may be harmful to their eyes. Perhaps not the nitty gritty details of how, but the agreed upon understanding that the accumulation of UV light hastens cataracts and increases the risk of developing macular degeneration. When patients are questioned about their knowledge of blue light, many are unfamiliar with where it comes from and how it may affect their eyes. 

If you work inside an office environment, you are most likely surrounded by blue light. Digital devices such as computer monitors, laptop, tablet and mobile phone screens all emit blue light. LED lights and CFLs are low energy and provide great savings when it comes to paying your electric bill. However, they are also a source of blue light. Blue light rays surround us and continuous exposure to these lights may be harmful. 

Why do your eyes feel so tired after working on the computer screen for a few hours? You're probably thinking you've been overworked and a vacation is needed. While we could all use a break, reducing blue light from your computer screen may help you work more comfortably! Prolonged exposure to blue light while working on computer screens may cause digital eyestrain. Blue light may also increase your risk of developing macular degeneration; a disease causing retinal cell death leading to a loss of functional vision. Those fancy words do not sound pleasant at all! Simply put, chances of you losing your vision increases with blue light exposure.

The solution is quite simple: blue light filters. Few computer monitors and mobile phones may have a setting to reduce blue light. You'll notice when such option is enabled, your screen may change to a yellow shade. You may also find screen protectors with the ability to filter blue light, however this is a costly option -- you will have to purchase a screen protector for each device. At our office, we simply place blue light filters directly onto our glasses. No matter where you are, what devices you are on, knowing harmful blue light is filtered is assuring. 

The 20-20-20 Rule for tired or fatigued eyes

Lets start our blog with a topic that relates to many of our patients: working on the computer. Many patients report they are working in front of a monitor at least 8 hours per day. With few patients pushing up to 12 hours of digital devices per day. The amount of harmful blue light accumulates over time and could be damaging to the eyes' retinal tissue in the future! We'll discuss blue light rays in a future discussion. Let's focus on the common complaints reported by patients working on digital devices: eye strain and fatigue.

Why do eyes fatigue after prolonged hours of computer use? It's a simple matter of eye muscles being overworked. When you engage in near work, such as the use of digital devices, the eye muscles responsible for near focus are engaged. When the eyes focus on a distant object, those muscles are relaxed.

The solution? Find a new career! But that's unrealistic. One of the simplest helpful tidbit is to apply the 20-20-20 rule. For every 20 minutes of work, take 20 seconds of break and look at an object 20 feet away. So find your tape measure and lets mark 20 feet away from your desk. That's also unrealistic! Try and gaze off at the distance. Look outside the window, across the room, or just choose something simple to look at far away.

When applied, the 20-20-20 rule may not eliminate tired eyes or fatigued eyes completely, but it should provide some relief. We'll provide more helpful tips in future readings. Thanks for reading.