Any knowledge or personal exeriences with blue light damage to eyes?

[JDtimk]

I know this is not a given, but I recently had an eye exam and asked the doctor about the potential of blue light damage to eyes.
My doctor said that exposure to light in the 230-400nm range can damage different parts of the eye depending on the particular nm range and the length of exposure. He suggested I put up a yellow or amber acrylic panel around the lights if they are shining directly into your eyes, if not contained in a hood for example.
This got me wondering if staring at a heavily blue light saturated tank over time could add to risk of macular degeneration or other diseases that may have some correlation to blue light exposure.
I believe most spikes in the 400 + nm range in our lights occur above 400nm, not below it, but still, lots of blue light at a magnitude that is far greater than you would be exposed to without our lights regularly shining in our eyes.
Does anyone have any experience on this topic or have any info to share?

 

[rock_lobster]

230-400 is UV not blue. I highly doubt there are any LED fixtures out there running 230nm LEDs a spectrum that would be used for disinfection like a UV sterilizer. Above 315nm (which probably encompasses all aquarium lighting) is considered UVA not nearly as risky. You would be exposed to many thousands of times more damaging UV radiation just by walking outdoors than the UV reflection from viewing an aquarium.

 

[JDtimk]

230-400 is UV not blue. I highly doubt there are any LED fixtures out there running 230nm LEDs a spectrum that would be used for disinfection like a UV sterilizer. Above 315nm (which probably encompasses all aquarium lighting) is considered UVA not nearly as risky. You would be exposed to many thousands of times more damaging UV radiation just by walking outdoors than the UV reflection from viewing an aquarium.

Good perspective on the spectrum being more damaging in the 2-300 range.
So your belief is that our reef lights don't emit any significant amount of the more damaging UV range and it is way less than would be encountered in routine exposure to sunlight? Seems to make sense.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The studies are correct, however the interpretation is a bit lacking.
All the blue lights you see,welding , leds sky ,snow in the daytime all contain these spectrum. And yes it’s that frequency that causes the damage. However, you may have noticed how comon those sources are So......

Considering this , I am not required by law , OSHA , CALOSHA studies to wear protective eyewear to use these lights.

Nor are the actors they are lighting, whom need to be specifically insured , to work on the production.

 

[JDtimk]

The studies are correct, however the interpretation is a bit lacking.
All the blue lights you see,welding , leds sky ,snow in the daytime all contain these spectrum. And yes it’s that frequency that causes the damage. However, you may have noticed how comon those sources are So......

Considering this , I am not required by law , OSHA , CALOSHA studies to wear protective eyewear to use these lights.

Nor are the actors they are lighting, whom need to be specifically insured , to work on the production.

Cool. Is that you working on a film set?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Cool. Is that you working on a film set?

No, not me. My hair is a lot longer
We do have 4 of those lights in the truck though. 18,ooo watt arc lamp.

 

[Opus]

I think there was a Dr on here or maybe another board that claimed to have eye damage from blue lights.

 

[Bdrake]

I think there was a Dr on here or maybe another board that claimed to have eye damage from blue lights.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/vision-loss-blue-light.287707/

 

[JDtimk]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/vision-loss-blue-light.287707/

Thanks for that link. Interesting opinions there.
I get that there is always some new health scare that claims scientific backing and I try to read as much as I can on both sides of the argument and then take precautions as I feel is necessary.
I can't say that blue light from my tank is damaging my eyes, but I have noticed over the years and depending on what lights I was running at the time, that I would experience some sensation of fatigue or discomfort after long periods of viewing my tank, especially when I ran super actinic VHOs.
I will probably follow my gut here and err on the side of caution with some effort to minimize light spill directly from my lights into my eyes.

 

[Converted to Saltwater]

Thanks for that link. Interesting opinions there.
I get that there is always some new health scare that claims scientific backing and I try to read as much as I can on both sides of the argument and then take precautions as I feel is necessary.
I can't say that blue light from my tank is damaging my eyes, but I have noticed over the years and depending on what lights I was running at the time, that I would experience some sensation of fatigue or discomfort after long periods of viewing my tank, especially when I ran super actinic VHOs.
I will probably follow my gut here and err on the side of caution with some effort to minimize light spill directly from my lights into my eyes.

I know staring at,blue light for a long time triggered my epilepsy. That's a fact.