Blue Light Glasses -- A Waste of Money? Explained by an MD

0:00 hi i'm dr michael chua with plenty heels eye care you might have heard about or seen ads about those blue blocking lenses that claim to protect your retina and decrease digital eye strain in this video i'll give you the top reasons why i think these glasses are a waste of your money and i'll also discuss better ways to protect your vision that are actually backed by real science almost every day in the office patients ask me whether it's worth it for them to buy those blue light blocking glasses when you take a look at some of the ads from these blue blocking lens companies it's easy to see why these lenses have become so popular here's a blog post saying a 35 year old woman developed macular degeneration because of blue light and here's another one it's an ad which says that blue light impairs daily performance disrupts the sleep wake cycle and contributes to macular degeneration and here's my favorite one

0:45 it says blue light is the silent killer for your vision i don't even know what that means and that it's been linked to digital eye strain retina damage sleep disorders adhd obesity and diabetes add this to the fact that blue light filters can cost an extra 100 or 200 to your classes and you can see why many companies and glasses manufacturers are marketing these so aggressively to the general public so let's look at some of these claims and review the actual science the first claim is about retinal health and macular degeneration these lens companies claim that blue light can cause macular degeneration and retinal disease what they don't mention is that the actual studies which show the potential harmful effects of blue light were conducted on rats and cells and petri dishes they also don't mention that the blue light used in these studies were in laboratory settings and

1:32 was usually way stronger and more focused than the blue light were exposed to in everyday life clinical studies which actually looked at the blue light that we encounter in the real world and its effect on human eyes have found that there's no solid evidence to support the use of blue light blocking lenses for retinal health okay what about digital ice stream you know that feeling you get when you're on your computer or your phone for way too long your eyes feel tired you might have a gritty or pressure like sensation in your eyes and your vision might start becoming blurry that's digital eyestrain many of these ads mentioned that these blue blocking glasses will prevent or at least help your digital eye stream well a recent study in the american journal of ophthalmology showed that that's not true in this study they took 120 people who reported that they had digital eye strain they gave half of them clear

2:18 glasses and the other half blue blocking glasses but the research subjects didn't know which pair they got then they had each subject wear their glasses and work on a computer for a couple of hours and ask them about their eyestrain symptoms at the end of the study they found that the subject to receive the blue blocking glasses had no difference in their eye strain symptoms compared to subjects who wore the clear glasses the blue blocking lenses had no effect on digital eye strain so when patients ask me if these glasses are going to help them with their tired eyes and digital eye strain i mentioned the study and tell them i don't really think so another claim made by blue blocking lens companies is that blue light from digital devices such as tvs laptops or phones can affect our sleep wake cycle also known as our circadian rhythm i'll give them a break on this one i'll concede that there's some real science behind this claim a

3:04 few different studies have shown that exposure to blue light at night can actually have an effect on your melatonin levels and your circadian rhythm but in addition to the blue light you also have to think about what you're watching on the screen if you're watching something late at night that's interesting or stimulating or funny then that will have effects on the attention network in your brain and cause you to stay up late at night and have poor sleep habits regardless of the blue light reaching your eyes stick around until the end of the video because i'll give you some tips on how you can improve your sleep hygiene and regulate your circadian rhythm with methods that are much cheaper than using blue blocking glasses so in summary clinical research does not support the claim that blue blocking glasses protect your retina or prevent digital eye strain but there is some evidence that blue light from devices at night can affect your circadian rhythm okay now that we covered why i think these blue blocking glasses are a waste of your money i want

3:51 to discuss some tips that are actually backed by science on how you can improve your eye health if you want to buy glasses that are good for your eyes you should buy ultraviolet or uv blocking sunglasses and make sure to get the ones that block 100 of uva and uvb light uv light has been proven to be a risk factor for the development of cataracts as well certain cancers of the eyelids such as squamous cell carcinoma basal cell carcinoma and melanoma sun exposure around the eyes can also cause loss of collagen and elasticity in the skin leading to those crow's feet that people try to avoid so make sure to wear good uv blocking sunglasses whenever you're out in the sun the next steps i have are for digital eyestrain for patients who complain about their tired and sore eyes after being on the computer or phone for too long i've learned that the most common cause for their symptoms is actually dryness normally humans blink

4:37 about 15 to 20 times per minute but when we're focusing on something like a computer screen or an engaging tic-tac video we only blink about five times per minute blinking is a really important physiologic process that allows us to coat our eyes with tears if we aren't blinking like we should then our tears can evaporate and our corneas can dry out causing irritation and strain so one of the best ways to treat digital eye strain is to remind yourself to blink as often as possible eye doctors also commonly mentioned the 20 20 20 rule which is every 20 minutes relax your eyes for 20 seconds by looking at an object in the distance at least 20 feet away and while you're relaxing your eyes make a concerted effort to get some good blinks in as well i also recommend for patients to keep some artificial tiers nearby their desk or computer so that they can put a drop

5:24 in to lubricate the cornea if they're feeling any irritation you can watch this video here to learn more about my recommendations for the best artificial tiers the last tips i have are the vision habits you should develop to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm instead of using blue blocking glasses you can turn on the blue blocking mode on your phone or computer on apple devices it's known as night mode and on android devices it's the blue filter setting you'll also want to avoid using devices in screen time an hour or two before going to bed blue light during the day is actually beneficial to maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm so spending time outside and looking at the sky during the morning between the hours of 7 to 11 am can help you be more alert during the day and ready for bedtime at night a particularly good habit i tell patients is to try to add a 15 or 20 minute outdoor brisk walk or jog to their

6:10 morning routine it's great for your cardiovascular health as well as your circadian rhythm and sleep i hope you found the information in this video helpful and if you did give us a like and subscribe to our channel for future updates and if you live in the los angeles orange county or inland empire area and want to get your eyes checked out feel free to visit our website to make an appointment today i'm dr michael chua with printed hills eye care see you next time