Exploring Blue Light Filtering
With COVID-19 in full swing, many people have turned their heads to screens even more-so than before. Commutes, walks, exercise, and social interaction have also been largely replaced by screens, screens, screens and more screens. Throw in a job that requires full work day screen usage into the mix and ones life easily becomes:
So where does this leave us? Many folks, including myself, turn to blue light filtering lenses to reduce the adverse effects such as eye strain, dryness, and difficulty falling asleep. Does blue light filtering really help though? Ophthalmologists actually disagree that blue light filtering helps with eye strain and other eye-specific problems (Ref 1, Ref 2, Ref 3) and that other forms of care should be taken. More sources tend to agree that blue light filtering at the minimum helps keep our circadian rhythm in-tact, promoting sleep wellness. I began using blue light filtering lenses in 2019 and have not had trouble falling asleep due to screen usage. I was able to more accurately attribute my own sleep difficulties to a lack of wind down routine, which experts also highly recommend.
Should you get blue light filtering lenses then? I’d say if you have the capital or the insurance for it, there’s no harm in doing so despite the opinionated literature online. Better yet if you already have lenses without blue light filtering you can pick up a pair and get the best of both worlds, because blue light lenses have a downside as well: your eyes are hidden by an explosive mess of color. You can say goodbye to looking normal in photos and videos.
Inherently lenses that block blue light will have tinted lenses that may or may not be noticeable, depending on the lens maker. Some lenses are clearly red or yellow tinted giving your worldview that respective hue, and some lenses still appear to be clear. In the case of the tinted lenses, you’ll have to accept that your life now has an Instagram filter on it. As the lenses work their magic, the light reflecting off will cause them to look blue or purple. The wearer won’t be able to see the discoloration of course, because that's the wavelength being reflected away from your eyes into anybody’s eyes looking at you — resulting in them seeing your glasses being funky. This has become extremely frustrating in today’s increased usage of online interaction because proper eye contact can become futile.
My current pair of glasses causes me this frustration to a large degree. The lenses are combination of blue light filter and sunlight transition that I picked up from Costco Optical. They are very noticeably yellow tinted when wearing them and it is extremely obvious that they filter blue light, maybe amplified by the sunlight transitions response too.
Since my vision insurance resets annually, I took to exploring new blue light filtering options in 2020. I ended up purchasing from Warby Parker. Blue light lenses are an additional $50 to the frames and regular lenses costs. At Costco Optical, they are a free add-on. If you’re on the fence whether or not to spend this extra money, take some time to analyze the source of your sleeplessness if possible to determine if the issue is really screen time or something else and if you can deal with aforementioned cons. If you’re on the fence on where to get your glasses, I would personally recommend Warby Parker as they are independent of the Luxottica conglomerate and I’ve had a great experience with them for my pair of glasses without blue light filtering back in 2018. Another cost effective marketplace I am aware of is EyeBuyDirect.
The blue light filtering Warby Parker uses is extremely subtle. So much so that at first I wasn’t even sure they remembered to make my lenses with the filtering. Turns out I am not alone in having that confusion. I tried to use online RGB tests, maxed out my screen brightness, ensured Night Shift was off, turned off True Tone, yet still color content looked the same to me. This result is extremely different than what I experience with the Costco lenses.
Since the on-device tests weren’t working, I tried natural light testing again which to my relief proved my glasses are indeed blue light filtering.
My blue light filtering lenses induce a more violet/purple hue for incoming natural light, while my regular Warby lenses are markedly more blue. Since there is a noticeable difference, I am hopeful that my new lenses indeed have the coating. A user from this Reddit thread reached out to Warby to comment on the effectiveness of their blue light filtering, and this is what they had to say
Our blue light filtering lenses filter 100% of blue light at 400 nanometers, which is the wavelength of blue light believed to be most harmful from the sun and low-energy indoor light. At 420–455 nanometers (the frequency of LED screens) these lenses will filter up to 34% of blue light.
From the official response above it is clear why the filtering effect from Warby is so subtle for LED screens, they only filter out 34%. The natural light test is more apparent since 100% of 400nm is filtered. To some, this may not be desirable and the Costco Optical or other filtering may be a better choice. But as someone seeking to avoid such harsh blue reflections on my eyes, the Warby lenses actually bring back the normalcy of glasses while also retaining some blue light filtering benefits.
I’ll be using my new Warby glasses daily moving forward as they allow me to look normal again.
