CJMY. Camille Gaubert’s column airs daily in the program “C Jamie”, presented by Jamie Gourmaud, Monday through Friday at 5pm on France 5.

LEDs are blue light-rich diodes. So be careful not to spend hours in front of the screen which can have a harmful effect on your eyesight. While blue light will not cause you to lose your vision in the short term, it may increase your risk of developing AMD as you age.

What is AMD?

AMD, or age-related macular degeneration, is the loss of vision in the center of the retina. It appears like a dark spot in the middle of your field of view. If AMD is a disease of the elderly, then from childhood the luck of our eyes becomes bad. Our eyes are actually protected by the lens, which filters out part of the blue light due to the yellow color we acquire with age. But children have a transparent lens, and therefore are vulnerable. For example, we know that people with high exposure to sunlight in childhood have AMD at a younger age than others. Why ? Because the sun also emits blue light! In fact, just as our skin has the sun’s capital, so our eyes have light capital. By constantly exposing our eyes, we slowly nibble this capital. Especially when it comes to blue light, as it is most energetic ahead of green, red or yellow. However, the LED diodes that fill our screens are very rich in blue light.

There is no certainty, but caution is needed

But suddenly, do we really know whether the blue light emitted by LEDs has the same effect as strong exposure to the sun? No. At the moment, there is no certainty: 20 to 30 years will have to wait, that the kids who grow up in front of the screen get old. Only in this way will researchers be able to see if they develop AMD less often than their ancestors. But even if we still can’t draw conclusions, there are reasons to be wary. Studies on rats – which have transparent crystals like children – show that strong exposure to blue light damages their retinas. You can use blue light filters, but their effect is variable… and above all unproven!