As someone with perfect vision, I have never known what it’s like to need a pair of glasses, but now that I have a pair of blue light lenses, I can’t bear to go a day without them. They are equally cute and functional, and have helped my eyes immensely over the course of my online class semester.
Since COVID-19 has forced most of our interaction to be on a screen, it makes sense that many people are struggling with dry, strained or irritated eyes this year. I myself have experienced some of these symptoms and found blue light glasses as a reasonable solution to these problems.
I got my blue light glasses on Amazon for under twenty bucks, which I think is fairly reasonable, so at the time I didn’t search for any medical evidence to back my purchase. However, now that news of high energy visible (HEV) blue light is circulating the news, some people wonder if blue light glasses are truly protective, or just the latest passing fad. So, do blue light glasses really work? It seems that the answer depends on who you ask.
According to the Science of Light website, blue light penetrates all the way to the retina of the eye, which means that too much blue light can damage the retina’s cells. On the other hand, Web MD states that the problem may not be the blue light in and of itself, but rather the overuse of digital devices that causes us to experience the symptoms associated with too much blue light.
Some professionals say that these glasses have benefits, while others claim that we don’t necessarily need them, especially if you aren’t looking at your screen for over six hours a day. There is much debate about this topic on the internet, but my personal opinion is that they are an affordable solution in helping the way my eyes feel. The demands of online classes sometimes require me to stare at my computer for lengthy periods of time, so popping on a pair of blue light glasses is sometimes the only thing that gets me through.
Other than easing my eye strain, I also happen to think that they are super stylish! They also help me look a little more put together on those days that I don’t want to throw on makeup for a Zoom call.
I think that in the future we will have to look for further medical research in order to conclude if blue light glasses have real benefits or not, but until then, they are definitely worth trying!