Blue light films on Glasses and Screens

Yes! I have been a practising optometrist for many many years now. I have worked in private practice, corporate optometry and am now in my own practice. I didn’t confess completely earlier as I don’t usually get vocal in forums due to my fairly narrow area of expertise and I wasn’t sure how involved to get! I am happy to do my best to answer your questions if you have any more…

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Hi @siv
I would have hoped that both your questions were answered in my earlier post (Blue light films on Glasses and Screens - #6 by meltam) above.

Specifically the research shows that so far

  1. the coatings work for some issues that have been tested for, and
  2. there is no standard because at this time there is no absolute measure to put into a standard.

It follows then that until there is a standard, there can not be a legal framework to proscribe what cannot be sold. Until there is sufficient research we will not know whether the blue light filter lenses being sold at the moment work as claimed, in this case for

At the moment, people can either research scientific studies for ourselves or rely on optometrists’ advice (hopefully based on evidence) that these filters work in certain circumstances.

With or without evidence people spend lots of money on all sorts of things they hope will help them, and sometimes contrary to evidence. In this case, the initial indications are that it works, but not necessarily in all cases, and definitely not a cure-all.

I think that all Choice can do at this stage is look at the scientific research and seek optometrist/opthamologist advice. Testing this is outside what Choice can probably do.

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At the moment I choose to use a blue light reduction mode on my screens when using Win 10. To get to this setting I use Settings > System > Select “Display” from the left hand panel (should be default selection) > Under the “Colour” Heading in the right side panel turn the “Night Light” on > then click the “Night light settings” link and adjust your preferences to when it comes on and off and how Amber/Orange you want the display by sliding the “Strength” slider along until you reach your satisfaction level of colour…100 is very Orange/Amber as a heads up about levels…around 80 most blues are gone or very minimal.

On many of the latest Smartphones they also have settings to allow this night mode type display.

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Blue light film protective coating can be applied to screens, electronic devices or glasses to block some of the light being emitted.

Blue light film products sometimes come with health claims, but both the need to apply blue light filters and their effectiveness seems to be a point of contention. We’d welcome your thoughts and experiences, as always with evidence where possible (and if anyone reading this needs medical advice please seek an appropriate professional, this is a general discussion only).

In addition, do blue light filters have any effect on screen viewing quality? With so much emphasis on screen resolution and quality, we’d love to hear from you on this point.

Blue light film - :+1: or :-1:? Please share your verdict in the comments below.

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Some of the claimed benefits have a (tiny) grain of truth in them. For example, that reducing blue light helps you sleep. Very bright light, especially blue light, has been shown to interfere with your sleep/wake cycle in some circumstances. One case was a woman who was sitting under a very bright light to do close needlework before bed time. Does this mean that sitting in front of a device for hours will do the same and that filtering blue light will prevent the problem? Not necessarily, the strength may be below the threshold required for the effect. You would need specific evidence that the light from your device under the circumstances it is used actually caused the problem. I can’t find that evidence.

Another claim is that blue light causes eye strain. Most references say that - guess what - over use causes eye strain. For example the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Some people swear it works. As mentioned many times the placebo effect can make the most amazing things ‘work’ in some cases. Maybe spending less time on your device or taking regular breaks to rest your eyes would also work, cost nothing and be better for you. Personally I favour taking breaks for this reason and to help your body, sitting still for long periods even in an ergonomic chair, is a strain on your body. You really do need to get up and stretch and do some exercise.

Let us throw away evidence for a second (it’s very popular to do so for much longer periods even a lifetime) and take gut reaction. Why did I spend good money on high quality monitor and the time to tune it correctly only to apply a coloured filter to mess all that up? If I am going to see the world through rose coloured glasses I prefer the metaphorical kind not plastic film.

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Blue light film onto devices :-1:

There is evidence for the certain benefits of blue light filtering for some people as I posted in blue light film on prescription glasses.

The problem with film onto devices is the quality may be questionalbe (cheap), and optically it might be quite bad.

It would seem more logical for those people it helps to have a pair of glasses with orange lenses, than have to apply films to all the devices around the home/workplace etc that they may possibly encounter.

Blue light filtering orange glasses quite possibly :+1:

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While exposure in bed immediately before sleeping may affect one’s ability to get to sleep (possibly no different to a shift worker standing in sunlight immediately before going to bed), the term harmful used in marketing of anti-blue screen products is a step too far and in effect is scaremongering to pressure consumers to buy such products. Labelling light from screens as being harmful is also misleading the consumer.

It isn’t harmful, if it was any light (unless specially designed to operate above the visible blue light spectrum) would also be harmful and their use would be restricted by governments everywhere to ensure the safety of consumers. This means most lighting commonly used today would be ‘banned’.

The easy solution to anti-blue screen products is not to use them immediately before sleeping if one believes they are sensitive to the blue light spectrum…eg, thinks it reduces the ability to get to sleep/have a good sleep.

Furthermore, one doesn’t need to have a device or screen in the bedroom. Leave these to traditional rooms of the house (lounge, famioy room, study/office) and have a break from them before heading to bed.

Edit: I wonder if the extra brain stimulation through the use of screens immediately before sleep is a bigger impact than blue screens?

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