Are you addicted to smartphones and digital devices? Beware, blue light from smartphones and digital devices such as laptops and tablets may increase the risk of blindness.
Blue light from smartphones and other digital devices such as laptops and tablets may increase the risk of blindness, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Scientific Reports. Are you addicted to your smartphones, laptops, and tablets? The blue light emitting from these digital devices can affect your eye's retina and lead to age-related macular degeneration, according to research led by a professor of Indian-origin.
‘Blue light from smartphones and digital devices such as laptops and tablets may affect your vision.’
Macular degeneration, an incurable eye disease that results in significant vision loss starting on average in a person in his 50s or 60s, is the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need molecules called retinal to sense light and trigger a cascade of signaling to the brain. The findings showed that blue light exposure causes retinal to trigger reactions that generate poisonous chemical molecules in photoreceptor cells.
"We are being exposed to blue light continuously, and the eye's cornea and lens cannot block or reflect it," said Ajith Karunarathne, Assistant Professor, the University of Toledo in Ohio, US.
"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina," he added.
Since photoreceptors, produced in the eye, are useless without retinal, one needs a continuous supply of retinal molecules to see.
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"Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."
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"The retinal-generated toxicity by blue light is universal. It can kill any cell type," Karunarathne said.
To protect your eyes from the blue light, wear sunglasses that can filter both UV and blue light outside and avoid looking at your cell phones or tablets in the dark, he suggested.
Source-IANS