Blue light glasses: Do they really work?

Dr. Troy Allred explains the science behind blue light glasses and why students are choosing to wear them. SAM ANDRUS, Photo Editor.

Who knew that of all the colors of the rainbow, blue would become the most popular? Of course, there are the blue ICEE drinks at the movies, the iconic color of the Cookie Monster and the Blue Man Group, but lately, the most trendy blue item has been blue light glasses. 

But, the question remains: do blue light glasses actually work? The answer is still elusive.

Meg Jernigan, a freshman communication studies major, has worn glasses since second grade. Her journey with blue light glasses started a little bit before the pandemic when her mother read about them in an article saying they would prevent headaches. 

Jernigan wears her blue light glasses along with the contacts she has been prescribed by her eye doctor. Even though she has two pairs of blue light glasses and is quite fond of the trendy styles that come along with them, she wears them mainly for their purpose of blocking out blue light.   

“They’re actually pretty cute. You get to go to the store and pick out whatever glasses you want and buy them, which is kind of fun” Jernigan said. “One of my pairs is like a brown tortoise shell. My other pair is clear and has gold. They’re both pretty similar shapes, like a Ray-Ban shape. They’re cute. They’re fun to wear.”   

Dr. Troy Allred, a professor at Marshall B. Ketchum and optometrist with a private practice, Allred Family Eye Care in Fullerton, explains blue light exposure comes primarily from two sources: sunlight and electronic devices. Allred said younger generations are more susceptible to blue light exposure, as a result of increased technology use, which could lead to serious long-term effects.

“Blue light exposure is one of the things that leads to macular degeneration, which is an age-related disease of the eye to cause loss of central vision,” Allred said. “It’s accumulated over a lifetime, so there are more older people now with macular degeneration. But we don’t know if that (number is) going to increase because of the new generation of people that have more exposure to blue light.” 

Candace Shih, a senior television writing and production major, has a history of her eyeglass prescription rapidly changing from year to year. She didn’t get blue light glasses until 2020, because they were a free add-on when she got her newest prescription. She chose the lightest strength of blue light glasses, which she said only has a slight blue tint, so it wouldn’t affect her ability to see color. 

“Because I’m a production designer, and I do costumes and I do a lot of graphic design, having that strong tint of green or yellow (that sometimes accompanies blue light glasses) messes with seeing color palettes,” Shih said. “I didn’t want to have to constantly take my glasses off just to see what the true colors were … It just looked like you were in the Matrix, which is not my vibe.”

While Shih has been using those blue light glasses ever since, she hasn’t noticed much of a difference in how tired her eyes are after a day in front of the computer. 

“I got my blue light glasses around the same time COVID-19 was hitting its peak and us being online (and) doing online school was hitting its peak,” Shih said. “I amped up my protection, but the stuff coming at me also ramped up at the same time, so I think it’s hard for me to say whether or not there was a true benefit. It’s hard for me to say if there’s been any massive improvement in my life in general.” 

This is not unsurprising. Allred says eye strain is usually caused by increased demands on the eye muscles focusing; it is not necessarily caused by blue light. In order to combat eye strain, Allred told The Panther to use the 20-20 rule. 

“About every 20 minutes that your eyes are locked in and focused up close, we want to give at least a 20-second break and look at something 20 feet away — that gives your eye muscles a rest,” Allred said. “If you squat down and stay in that hunched position for a long time, then you try to stand up and your leg muscles aren’t working very well, that’s the same thing that happens with our eyes; we want to stretch them and shift focus at least every 20 minutes.” 

As students continue to spend prolonged amounts of time on their devices, whether it be scrolling through social media, streaming shows or sitting in a Zoom meeting, Allred urges these individuals to regularly get their eyes checked —  even if they think they don’t need to. 

Danielle Bernstein, Instagram influencer and founder of WeWoreWhat, made a pair of $20 blue light glasses from Amazon popular by posting the link on her Instagram. Bernstein has 2.7 million followers on Instagram and has over 13 thousand posts. Some of her followers bought these glasses and said they helped their headaches. 

“‘Do blue light computer glasses help?” Allred said. “It’s not really a short answer. I guess the short version is, there are probably some things that it helps, and it’s definitely not going to hurt. As long as you're getting regular eye care, why not use the blue light blocking glasses?”