This is my third day wearing my new Felix Gray Blue Light Blocking Glasses and I can already tell a difference in my eyes by mid-afternoon. Not only is the fatigue less, but the acute dryness is less, and I have been able to push administering prescription drops a couple of hours into the evening.
Blue light is everywhere, it is not something new with the influx of computers, smartphones, HD, and OLED TVs, etc. into our lives. It has always been with us as part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
However, since at least the mid-1980s, higher doses of blue light that may be medically unsafe have become increasingly difficult for anyone to avoid. That is when CRT computer monitors became prevalent in offices and homes across the United States and other countries.
Blue light is a small band of wavelengths that is measured in nanometers. It lies next to the bottom of the visible spectrum and next to ultraviolet light. The visible spectrum is composed of all of the colors that we see, and that includes sunlight.
Sunlight is a combination of all colors and when combined as light, appears white. This white light can be split through a prism or cut crystal into the actual distinct colors of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.
These colors are formed by varying wavelength degrees which are measured in nanometers and collectively called the ‘visible spectrum. ’ These wavelengths of light combined to make white light. In pigments and dye the combination of all colors is the opposite of white – it is black.
The rest of the electromagnetic spectrum consists of gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet light, infrared red, microwaves, and radio waves. The wavelengths of light that combine to make white light, or the visible spectrum, falls within the middle of the electromagnetic spectrum and is measured in nanometers ranging from 400-700.
The most intense light that comes from the Violet color wavelength is – Blue Light, and this is the light that over time can damage the retinas in your eyes. We are faced with blue light in LED lamps, smartphones, computer screens, gaming and television consoles, on-coming car lights, fluorescent lamps that are still in department stores, churches and even schools.
These are just a few of the things around us that emit blue light that has the potential to affect the retina in our eyes. My regular glasses have a blue light blocking coating, but I hardly ever wear my glasses because I prefer contact lenses.
The Felix Gray glasses give me the blue light blocking protection while I wear my contact lenses. The Felix Gray blue light blocking glasses come with either clear or amber lenses. The lenses are of high optical quality, and I see no distortion at all using these over my contacts.
The clear lenses filter up to 15x more of the more intense part of the blue light emitted by screens, while the amber lenses filter up to 23X more. All glasses have a premium double sided anti-reflective coating which reduces the glare.
My lenses are clear and work nicely over my bi-focal contact lenses, but Felix Gray also offers frames with lenses having reading power or even your eye prescription. They offer a collection of sunglasses too.
I am using the Roebling style which fits me perfectly. I have a narrow face, high cheekbones, a low nose bridge and glasses are always wider than my head and fall off my nose. I was thrilled to find a pair like these that fit so well and that feel this comfortable.
I always use an Italian frame for my sunglasses because they are made to my size and light in weight, and these remind me of those frames. Consequently, when I went online to buy another pair, I learned that Felix Gray glasses are hand finished in a family run factory in Italy! These are not only light and comfortable, but stylish too.
I wish that I had owned a pair of blue light blocking glasses back into the 1990s when I started long hours, every day, on large old CRT monitors doing all of my work on computerized drafting, word processors, emails, etc.
Three months ago, I woke up one morning to little vision in one eye and discovered that a hole had torn into my retina. After a couple of worthless ER visits, I found my way to a retina specialist that was able to laser the hole back together and my vision in that eye is now unblocked and back in use.
My mother had severe macular degeneration for 40+ years. Watching her give up driving, writing for the newspaper, etc. at an early age and never complaining about it, made me want to protect my eyes even more than before her misfortune.
I really like my new frames and lenses, and Felix Gray offers a range of sizes, styles, and options to choose from. I wish that the company offered a few more colors like blue-green, champagne or shades of blue, just because those are my favorite hues.
I am going to order another pair to be sure that I always have a pair in my vehicle for nighttime driving because some of the European manufactured headlights emit piercing blast of blue light which penetrate my eyes and leave me with a headache.
I feel that having two pairs of blue-light blocking glasses will help me save my eyesight longer, because I will have a pair near my devices and also a pair in my car. I highly recommend Felix Gray glasses.
I like them better than my prescription glasses that are supposed to have everything that opticians offer. If you are using computerized devices often, I suggest you take a look at Felix Gray’s website.
You will probably find something you really like, at a particularly competitive price, and be on your way to helping save your own vision too.