Tunnel lights

[Onionman]

On 10/02/2020 at 22:24, Detling said:

Agree bright LED lights are bad, they also have a high UV content in their light, which causes your pupils to contract when you look at them, just like sunlight, so not only do they blind being bright they destroy your night vision.

 

Your eyes don't respond to UV, they respond to visible light only. It's one of the dangers of ultra-cheap knock-off sunglasses that don't block UV. Your eyes respond to the lack of visible light, open up your pupils and the unblocked UV floods in, damaging your eyes.

 

WHO: "Constriction of the pupil, closure of the eyelids and the squinting reflex minimize the penetration of the sun's rays into the eye. These mechanisms are activated by bright visible light and not by UV radiation" - from https://www.who.int/uv/faq/uvhealtfac/en/index3.html

Edited February 12, 2020 by Onionman

[MtB]

2 hours ago, Onionman said:

and the unblocked UV floods in, damaging your eyes

 

Swerving off topic, what damage does this increased UV do to one's eyes, please? 

 

I can't imagine the rise in UV is very large. And UV sun glasses only became commonplace in the 1970s IIRC, so was eye damage from sunglasses commonplace prior to that? I took it just as a sales pitch by Polaroid Corporation using a gimmick to flog. more product. 

 

[Onionman]

43 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Swerving off topic, what damage does this increased UV do to one's eyes, please? 

 

I can't imagine the rise in UV is very large. And UV sun glasses only became commonplace in the 1970s IIRC, so was eye damage from sunglasses commonplace prior to that? I took it just as a sales pitch by Polaroid Corporation using a gimmick to flog. more product. 

 

If you click on the link in my post it's the World Health Organisation's take on the science regarding damage done to your eyes by UV.

 

In my job, I spend six to eight hours a day outdoors with half of that looking upwards so I take eye health seriously. I only have two eyes and I like them very much.

 

Don't know whether UV protection in sunglasses was originally a gimmicky sales pitch but they seem (possibly by accident) to have hit on something that improves eye health.  Additionally, polarised (not Polaroid) lenses are particularly helpful on the water as they cut down polarised (mostly reflected) light. Mine aren't polarised, but you can't have everything in this life.

[Ray T]

51 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Swerving off topic, what damage does this increased UV do to one's eyes, please? 

 

I can't imagine the rise in UV is very large. And UV sun glasses only became commonplace in the 1970s IIRC, so was eye damage from sunglasses commonplace prior to that? I took it just as a sales pitch by Polaroid Corporation using a gimmick to flog. more product. 

 

According to my optician, cataracts. At my last eye test, October he said I had the early stages of them caused by over exposure to UV.

Because of my lifestyle, worked out side for 50% of my career, spent a lot of time dinghy and offshore sailing. The UV reflects off water. 

 

He suggested I wear sun glasses when the UV levels get high, which will slow the growth down.

Edited February 12, 2020 by Ray T

[WotEver]

23 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Swerving off topic, what damage does this increased UV do to one's eyes, please? 

 

I can't imagine the rise in UV is very large. And UV sun glasses only became commonplace in the 1970s IIRC, so was eye damage from sunglasses commonplace prior to that? I took it just as a sales pitch by Polaroid Corporation using a gimmick to flog. more product. 

 

Years ago my dad was with me ex-wife and me looking around the Tower of London. We were all leaning on a bridge looking down at some water. I commented on the number and size of fish in the water and they both said “Where?”  After me repeating “Down there!” about a dozen times we realised that it was my polarised sunglasses that enabled me to see ‘through’ the glare.