Blue Light – A Threat to your Vision

The amount of blue light we are exposed to is rapidly on the increase - from energy efficient light sources to the exponential increase in the use of digital devices and of course from natural sunlight - blue light is everywhere.

Plugged In Society

We are a “plugged-in” society with 30% of adults spending nine or more hours daily on digital devices! One in four children spends three or more hours a day on a digital device and many adults check their phones close to 100 times per day! The ubiquitous use of digital devices has caused massive increase in blue light exposure as most of these devices use LED light.

Energy Efficient LED Lighting

As well as loads of Blue Light from the sun, we are now faced with increasing indoor exposure to harmful blue light. This due to the scaping of incandescent light-bulbs which only gave off 3% damaging blue light which has now been replaced with an LED light that emits around 35% of damaging blue-violet light. By the year 2022 84% of our indoor light sources will be LED.

Link to Macular Degeneration

The damaging effects of blue light are cumulative and most people are unaware of the damage that is occurring daily or even know where this damage is coming from. Recent studies have shown that blue light causes retinal cell death, specifically between wavelengths 415nm-455nm. Blue light has now been linked to causing age-related macular degeneration however, other factors also determine a patient’s risk for this disease including age, race, genetics, diet, smoking and weight.