Yeah blue blocking lenses are a scam, because of exactly your argument. If you go outside on an overcast day and open your eyes for five minutes that is significantly more blue light exposure then a screen throughout the day. Blue light during the day is important for our sleep wake cycle and excessive UV can cause retinal damage, but normal blue light from the sun or screen isn’t harmful.

What about for people with dry eye AND PDS, like me? Can't this be sort of a reliever?

>This is why it’s encouraged to not look at screens during the night, so that we can build up in melatonin and go to sleep

It's never actually been proven that blue light from screens at night prevent sleep. Compared to sunlight, the blue light from devices is like an ant compared to an elephant. It likely isn't intense enough to do any significant damage. That's not to say devices don't keep you awake at night, but it's not because of the blue light. It's because... Well it's something to stay up late doing.

It's also not the only factor in controlling circadian rhythm. Studies in animals show that the rhythm persists even in absolute darkness. And bed time rituals, sleeping habits, etc all play a part. This is the more likely reason devices keep us up late. Texting friends and scrolling through Facebook and reddit isn't a good way to settle yourself down for sleep. It's likely cues from sunlight merely nudge us in the right direction and help keep the rhythm steady, but don't totally govern our sleeping.

>Glasses companies are marketing blue light blocking glasses as good but no one talks about the negative effects of blocking the natural blue light during the day.

It has come up among the scientific community, but no you won't find a marketer bringing it up. There is no money in that. At any rate nothing has been proven on the subject yet so you won't find scientist advocating for or against it. I suggest you don't look to marketing agencies and big for-profit companies for accurate, unbiased, and nuanced scientific data anyway.

>A normal piece of glass (like a window) would block out 50% of blue light from the sun, so we could assume that blue light blocking glasses are stripping off most of the blue light we need in the day.

I'm pretty sure you're confusing blue light and ultraviolet light. They are not the same. If glasses blocked 50% of BLUE light then everything would look yellow tinted behind glass, but they could block out 100% of ultraviolet light and you wouldn't notice a difference because our photoreceptors are insensitive to ultraviolet light (basically uv is invisible to humans). Also glasses are made from plastic, not glass, so that statement is sort of irrelevant anyway. Also if blue light blocking glasses stripped "most" of the blue light out of the spectrum then everything would look EXTREMELY yellow, and the glasses themselves would look like an amber colored lens. In reality, "blue light blocking" glasses that you see advertised block less than 10% - 20% of blue light. Any more than that and everything will take on an obnoxious amber color and they'd never sell. This means that even if you wanted to assume blue light from devices is harmful (which it probably isn't), the stuff they sell you as "blue light blocking" hardly blocks any blue light anyway. You'd get better and cheaper blue light absorption from tinting your lens yellow. Basically it's a scam no matter what you believe about blue light. This is also why we're not too concerned blue blockers being dangerous to the general public.

The computer screen tinting is a lot stronger than most of the blue-light blockers built into corrective lenses. I suspect to make a significant impact you'd have to distort the color spectrum significantly more than people are willing to wear all the time.

Get the best defensive blue lens glasses to prevent your eyes from damages of screen light emitting from smartphones, computers and other digital devices.

https://www.eyeweb.com/blue-light-glasses

Blue light occupies a certain frequency range (in simple terms, it has a specific shape to it) that causes your body to produce less of the stuff it needs to make you sleepy. We're actually exposed to it and all visible light (and even invisible light) when we're outside in the sunlight. Naturally we tend to have this exposure during the day, when the sun is shining, and then we stop getting it after the sun sets, and that's part of the reason why you start to get more tired at night.

However, all the screens we look at all day, from computer monitors to cellphones, also produce light, including blue light.

Blue light filters are designed to block out light of a specific frequency (the blue frequencies) so they don't reach your eyes and then suppress the production of that hormone that makes you sleepy.

The point is that people in the 21st century spend a lot of time looking at screens and therefore ruining the quality and amount of sleep they get which can cause health problems long-term (and just make you feel nasty in the morning lol).

There has been research that excessive blue light might damage the cornea or retina of the eyes and excessive blue light could affect melatonin production which might affect sleep.

While these are grounded in good theoretical biology and physiology principles, in practice, blue light filtering glasses sold commercially don't seem to have measurable affect on sleep quality in studies and long term eye damage is very difficult to measure.

So, the jury is still out, but where real world and theoretical clash, I tend to believe the real world studies. Even if blue light is a problem, current blue light filtering glasses have not proven to be a solution, so there's not much more we can do until we find a proven solution.

All I know is it's a lot easier to use computers with my yellow lenses than sunglasses. Boss doesn't appreciate sunglasses, it's a bit too dark anyway, and it keeps me from getting twitchy eyes by lunch. It definitely seems like its efficacy is in question, but if you can get them cheap or clip-on to your existing glasses, they're pretty helpful.

Possibility #1 is that it's placebo since eye fatigue doesn't have any type of empirical measurement, or possibility #2 is it's just reducing the amount of light in general and wearing $1 sunglasses would probably work better. Even cheaper, just turn down the screen brightness to match your environment better and you don't have to deal with a yellow tint to the image.

My bets on #1 though as most recent studies have shown that it's around 50/50 whether or not someone reports them "working," which tends to point towards placebo.

The Belief: Blue light reminds our brains of daylight, and therefore causes our brains/bodies to produce chemicals that keep us awake

How glasses work: Just like any type of light filtering, the glasses are just made of materials that block blue light from passing through them, but still allow other colors to pass through. This is usually done by tinting them yellow-ish.

In reality: Probably snake oil. As more information comes out, it's likely that the original studies weren't representative of the actual data and blue light probably doesn't affect anything outside of the margin of error.

I had issues with dry eyes and low mucus/moisture production as a result of having eaten plant based for many years. I'm a low converter of betacarotene, and therefore ended up with vitamin a deficiency.

Orange, blue light blocking glasses decreased my symptoms of discomfort quite significantly when I wore them while sitting on the computer, so I've been using them regularly for about 3 years now. It's only an anecdote, but despite the "studies" claiming BS, it has definitely had an effect for me. And I didn't expect much from them, to begin with.

As you said, there is no medical evidence. I work in neurotech/sleeptech, so I'll point only to the evidence I am familiar with, which is all related to sleep.

Check out Michael Gradisar's Blog post
https://winksleep.online/blog/65-blue-screenlight-making-it-harder-to-fall-asleep-is-the-number-1-sleep-myth-of-our-time

In it, he goes into how research studies have been designed to show the effect of blue-light, specifically wrt sleep. These are not normal every day scenarios.

This doesn't mean the results are doctored. The studies were designed to look at how melatonin and sleep relate to blue light.

There are many studies that show decreased melatonin levels from blue-light.
What they don't show is that the reduced melatonin results in any statistically significant delay in sleep onset, or other issues related to sleep.

So that's strike one. Does blue-light even impact sleep? No.

Strike two is that most people look to these melatonin studies to show that blue light affects melatonin. But even if blue-light did affect melatonin levels enough to be concerned about, that doesn't mean that blue-light blocking glasses are the solution.

That's a whole other level of research that would be needed. And as you've said, everything comes up saying these do not provide a significant benefit.

I cant speak on glasses, but as an avid screen filter enjoyer, even if its psychological, I find it much easier to look at blue light reduced screens.

Yellow/orange, I don't think the clear ones can block 99% like the yellow/orange glasses do.

When you look at the light spectrum, blue light is right next to UV which we already know is harmful. So the concern is that the extra exposure to blue light from screens and other devices could cause some extra damage to the eyes. Now there hasn’t been enough data or studies yet to show if this is actually the case.

In my office we usually explain the blue light filtering as a comfort option while explaining that the long term effects still aren’t known. We’ve had patients that always get it on their glasses because they say it’s the only thing that keeps them from getting headaches when working on the computer for extended periods of time, and we’ve had people that don’t notice any difference. For me personally I notice my eyes aren’t as tired or worn out by the end of the day with the blue light filter in my glasses.

Side note too, there are different ways to get a blue light filter in the lenses so it could be worth it to talk to your optician or doctor about the different options.

Purely anecdotal, but in my experience blue light filters are more comfortable for my eyes. I use them all the time on my electronics, so I thought having them on my glasses would help. The way I like to think of it is that the effect of the blue light filter on the lenses stack on top of the filters on the devices.

Although there is little scientific evidence proving that blue light filters are effective, I like to use daylight bulbs vs. soft white bulbs as unscientific proof that they work for some people.

In a bedroom you’d use soft white bulbs (2700K) to create an inviting and relaxing atmosphere, which is ideal before bedtime. On an iPhone the blue light filter is labeled as “Night Shift” which is designed to help you get a better night’s sleep. I believe this is indeed effective because I find that with a daylight bulb (5000K) in a bedroom, it tends to keep me awake whereas with a soft white bulb it helps create that relaxing ambiance to help me relax and fall asleep better. The equivalent to a daylight bulb is disabling the night shift setting on my iPhone while the soft white bulb is equivalent to a blue light filter (or night shift enabled) since it also gives off a warm yellow vibe. I find that using my iPhone at night with night shift disabled causes discomfort and strain on my eyes, but with it enabled I’m able to use my iPhone for longer periods of time without discomfort or strain and I’m able to fall asleep better.

So you could view blue light filtering as either a preference or a gimmick. If you don’t like the yellow tint or if the normal color tone for screens doesn’t cause you discomfort, feel free to opt for normal lenses. Otherwise, lenses with blue light filtering are great for people who find it more comfortable for their eyes.

Here is an intresting article from AAOA. This is not from some blogger, or someone sponsored by a optical company etc.

Are Blue Blocking Glasses Worth It?

Personally I opted out of it for my most recent pairs, the new data basically states that there’s insufficient evidence that it provides actual benefits.

Short answer: no.

I have a blue light filter on my prescription glasses and I love it, it also blocks a great deal of UV. If you're a video/photo editor or otherwise need high color accuracy I don't recommend it. The filter augments color perception and it may mess with your work, for me it makes reds and greens pop more, games and content look more vibrant. What's most important though is that eye fatigue is almost a non issue for me anymore. I have severe astigmatism in one eye and far sighted in the other, with my old lenses I felt I HAD to take breaks with these I take breaks for maintenance.

they do what they are advertised to do, does it help health the way they say? still debated

My local opticians had a blue light thing that they could put onto plain lenses, you just pick out the frames.

As for work, I get considerably less headaches and my eyes usually feel less tired after spending the majority of the day doing work on my PC. I feel like it's subject to person and product

I had no idea that there were glasses for sleeping...

I use them pretty much all the time when using devices (except right now actually lol). But yes I find they reduce headaches and eye strain a lot. I imagine it’s better for my eyes in the long-run too.

There are some studies that they might help reduce frequency and duration of migraines in chronic migriane patients who have light sensitivity and photophobic triggers. Other than that? Probably not much. You shouldn't be using screens at night if you can avoid it.

If you use computers and screens a lot, yes. If you don't, they won't make much difference.

Better sleep for me

I've had them since 2020 and can't say they make a difference tbh. For me, I had better luck with an app called Lux that dims the display gradually when I was working into the evening.

The way they work is by filtering out blue light, which typically causes your brain to respond in a certain way which interrupts normal patterns of sleep, and also can cause visual strain but I don’t know much about visual strain. I find they help me, as does having night mode on my iPad all the time.

I have chronic migraines so it may be different for you, but I’ve noticed a huge difference in how tired my eyes are at the end of the day. I also notice when I’m using my phone or iPad for long periods of time and aren’t using them that my eyes get tired a lot faster.

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I haven't noticed a difference, I've had the blue light lenses for almost a year now. No major differences in sleep patterns though I've always been a good sleeper regardless of screen activity (I also work on a PC).

I work in clinical research and have spoken to several light researchers about this. Their general suggestion is that while they don’t make a huge amount of difference overall, as far as fatigue, they do make a difference as far as regulating your nocturnal and diurnal cycles. His suggestion was to allow blue light penetration in the first half of the day and wear blue light protection glasses in the later half of the day so that it doesn’t disrupt your circadian rhythm for evening and night time.

Highly recommend Zenni Optical. Affordable, lots of options and various styles, can get prescription or non prescription blue light blockers.

This study is on artificial light of any kind, not blue light. We're discussing whether "blue light limiting" glasses improve the "effects" of blue light, not if artificial light is harmful or not.

No. I just toggle my devices so that they don’t use as much blue light after sundown.

I have blue light lenses on my prescription glasses from Warby Parker

I like using them for driving at night to cut down on glare from other drivers lights, also a bit easier for looking at a computer screen for long periods of time.

Yeah, but so does f.lux which is just a program on your computer and is free.

My friend was obsessed with them a few years ago and I always thought there was no way they were that great. I finally got some and noticed I didn't get headaches or nausea anymore from being on my computer for 8hours at work. When I put them on I immediately feel the difference as well. My eyes feel more relaxed. I don't think it's a placebo since I had a negative mindset about them when I first tried them on but yet it still gave me positive results. It got to a point where I thought I had to quit my job because my headaches and nausea would get so bad.

Lots of people feel better when they use them. It is unclear how that works, it might be placebo, but there's nothing wrong with a good placebo as long as its not harmful

They work in the sense that they filter blue light.

I'm guessing what you mean is if there are actual benefits to doing so. In such case, it depends what benefits you're talking about. Seeing less blue light is probably not going to be life-changing for you.