Blue light damage comes from the sun, digital devices. Here's how to protect your eyes.

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UGA doctoral candidate Yaw Buabeng earned his degree and practiced professionally as an optometrist in Ghana before pursuing his Ph.D. His study could help inform future lighting technologies, digital display design, and research on visual performance.

Credit: Photo by Lauren Kimmel

Blue light exposure, more than any other wavelength, can damage the eyes and vision over time, according to a new study from the University of Georgia.

Researchers tested 60 young adults in the vision experiment. Participants viewed adjustable blue, green, yellow, red, and broadband light sources and indicated when they could distinguish two separate points of light.

Smartphones, computers, TVs and LED lighting all emit blue light, but the sun is the greatest source of it, lead study author Yaw Buabeng said.

"We see the sky as blue because the sun is the greatest source of blue light that we have," Buabeng said. "So, in our environment, in wherever we find ourselves, we are being exposed to blue light."

The study sought to understand how different wavelengths of light affect how well we can see tiny details.

Eye color may play a role, too, because participants with lighter-colored eyes, especially blue eyes, experienced more light scatter than participants with darker brown eyes.  

Light entering the eye has to focus on a point to produce sharp vision, and with blue light, its intense scattering properties means the light doesn't focus on an exact spot. Rather, the light disperses, causing blurry vision.

The researchers' findings may help explain why some people experience greater sensitivity to bright light or glare than others.  

The high-energy properties of blue light can be very damaging to our eyes or affect our visual performance, but it doesn't usually happen overnight.

While taking breaks from screens and using blue light-filtering glasses protects the eyes, so does replenishing the macular pigment that functions to absorb excess light.

The health of your eyes reflects what you eat, Buabeng said, and he recommended that people increase the amount of these macular pigments in their eyes by eating more brightly colored fruits and dark green leafy vegetables such as kale, broccoli, and spinach.