Are you feeling blue or is that just the light?

Background/Purpose:
To determine the effectiveness of common ophthalmic materials, coatings and other interventions to decrease blue-light exposure to patients who use electronic displays. Many things are done today to limit the exposure to blue light, we are going to look at the products on the market today that can help to limit exposure and what the most cost effective product is to patients.
Methods:
A spectrophotometer was used to measure the irradiance of wavelengths 410-450 nm of light emittedfor a Dell monitor, iPhone 7s and an iPad. The total irradiance was compared to the irradiance measured when common ophthalmic materials, coatings and other interventions were used. To approximate human exposure, spectrophotometer readings were recorded from a standard working distance that is typical ofhuman users. Ophthalmic materials thatfilter irradiant light were inserted at a standard vertex distance with other lens parameters standardized. Data was analyzed by recording the irradiance for each condition in an excel spreadsheet. The percentage decrease was calculated for each ofthe filtering materials or other technologies. Results were plotted against each other and analyzed using stat pack software to determine significant effect and relative effectiveness.
Results:
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The results showed that software designed to decrease the emittance ofblue light from electronic displays reduced the irradiance of410-450 nm light at the ocularsurface by 55 to 82%. The effectiveness ofreducing the irradiance ofblue light using common ophthalmic filtering technologies ranged between statistically no effect to 37%. There
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was variability in the effectiveness ofdifferent technologies for the different sample electronic displays measured due to the spectral characteristics ofthe displays' light source.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the best method to reduce the irradiance ofblue light exposure when
using electronic displays is by altering emittance of the source with a software program.
For ophthalmic filtering technologies, there was a statistically significant difference in
the lens technologies that were tested. The top reducing lens were: Blutech, Prevencia
and Retina Shield. Other technologies do not appear to significantly alter the irradiance
at the ocular surface. Additionally, there is a need for more research and long term
studies to determine if the extra blue light received from electronic displays poses
significant risk to ocular or systemic health.