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  • [♪♪]

  • [Makda] We're in a galaxy of glasses.

  • [Makda] Shopping for spectacles.

  • There's choice galore.

  • [Makda] Our secret shopper is a Marketplace producer and she

  • really does wear glasses.

  • The frames are all about fashion,

  • but it's the lenses that are the real focus.

  • [Makda] We're taking a hard look at a filter that's supposed to

  • block the blue light from screens.

  • [Makda] Blue light-filtering lenses are everywhere online,

  • but we want to test how the country's big chains are

  • pitching the latest trend in-store,

  • so we're undercover inside Hakim Optical,

  • LensCrafters, Vogue Optical, and Hudson's Bay Optical.

  • We're visiting three stores for each of them.

  • That means a dozen visits.

  • [Makda] The sales pitch sounds and looks convincing.

  • [Makda] And then the claims start to sound alarming.

  • [Makda] At one chain, we even hear the "c" word.

  • [Makda] Yikes.

  • So what does it cost to save our eyes?

  • [Makda] And it seems to be popular.

  • [Makda] So should we all buy in?

  • To find out, we're off to Philadelphia to visit one of

  • North America's top eye specialists.

  • Along the way, we meet people spooked by the light from their

  • screens, too.

  • I think using the computer or the cell phone for a long time

  • can do harm.

  • It can have retina detachment by using it too much time.

  • I've heard that it's bad for you,

  • so I got my glasses with the blue light lens protecting so

  • that when I look at my computer screen or my cell phone,

  • I'm at work, whatever, that it doesn't damage my eyes.

  • If you look at screens too much, your brain and eyes

  • can get damaged.

  • Am I about to be duped?

  • [Makda] So we're off to America's oldest eye hospital,

  • established almost 200 years ago.

  • Today it's 15 floors devoted to everything eyeballs.

  • Look way up high.

  • [Makda] That's where Montreal-born

  • Dr Sunir Garg works.

  • Awesome.

  • Yeah, otherwise, your retina looks really great.

  • [Makda] He's an eye doctor and an eye surgeon.

  • Dr Garg is also a spokesperson for the American Academy

  • Of Ophthalmology.

  • We keep hearing the same thing about blue-light filter lenses.

  • Is this a new thing?

  • It's a new thing, and it's all over the internet.

  • I can't even open up, you know, any website without,

  • you know, "Hey, maybe you want to buy these blue light

  • "blocking lenses."

  • [Makda] Okay, then, let's hit play.

  • [Makda] We heard that several times.

  • Is blue light from your screens harmful?

  • No.

  • It's not.

  • And I don't know where that's come from and why it's taken off

  • so much, because it's not data driven.

  • I can't fault them, because I'm sure they're getting a little

  • info sheet that says you know what,

  • here's three talking points about blue light

  • blocking lenses.

  • [Makda] He understands why we'd buy into this.

  • I think people are thinking, Jeez,

  • you're right, after I use my computer for a bunch of hours,

  • my eyes don't feel very good.

  • I can't see really well, they're kind of irritated,

  • but what's bothering them isn't the blue light,

  • it's the fact that when they're staring at the screen a lot,

  • they're not blinking as often.

  • That causes the eye to dry out and when your eyes become dry,

  • they become irritated and scratchy and tired.

  • [Makda] There is a simple fix for that.

  • What you should do is just take a break and the American

  • Academy Of Ophthalmology has this 20-20-20 rule.

  • Every 20 minutes, take a 20 second break and look 20 feet

  • off into the distance, and that will break that near staring

  • that we tend to do when we're looking at the screen.

  • [Makda] But back on hidden camera,

  • we never hear that advice.

  • Yeah.

  • Tearing your eyes out would be really cool around Halloween,

  • but it's not something, you know,

  • that we see and I think people are exaggerating stuff.

  • Well, Jeez, I have these light rays that are little daggers

  • that are coming into my eyes and poking holes in my macula,

  • which is sorta what she's making it sound like.

  • She's saying "penetrating the eyes".

  • That sounds scary.

  • It does sound scary.

  • And if I'm trying to sell you something that you don't need,

  • maybe sounding scary helps to sell.

  • [Makda] Now on to claims of serious damage to the back of

  • the eyeball, Dr Garg's passion and specialty.

  • This whole orange area is called the retina.

  • The centre of the retina gets a special name.

  • It's called the macula and the macula is the part of the eye

  • that gives us our good reading and driving vision.

  • [Makda] In our hidden camera, the staff in stores also bring

  • up the retina and the macula.

  • [Makda] Unfortunately, she's just wrong.

  • And there's no evidence at all that blue light from the screen

  • is gonna cause macular degeneration.

  • [Makda] Blue light from our screens degrades our retina?

  • I don't have patients coming in ever with any signs of damage to

  • their retinas from looking at their screen all day.

  • Retinal damage, macular degeneration,

  • that sounds serious.

  • And it IS serious, but the blue light from your screen is not

  • the cause of that stuff.

  • And people should do things to protect themselves against

  • developing macular degeneration, but that's not buying

  • these glasses.

  • That's eating a proper diet, foods high in omega-3 fatty

  • acids, eating stuff like broccoli,

  • spinach, kale, three servings a week.

  • We know that helps.

  • [Makda] But we don't hear that in stores.

  • We hear about studies.

  • There are no studies that are showing that.

  • Nothing in people.

  • And so people will quote that.

  • Yes, blue light can hurt retinal cells,

  • but they're not telling you that's not been shown in a

  • person or any group of people using screens,

  • it's mostly in a petri dish or taking a poor mouse and holding

  • its head in a position and shining a blue light intensely

  • into their mouse eyeballs for hours on end.

  • That can also potentially be harmful,

  • but that's, again, not how it happens in people.

  • [Makda] The marketing in stores also sends the same messages

  • about the dangers of blue light from a screen.

  • And so do the company websites.

  • So everything that you have seen so far,

  • what stands out?

  • You know, I think people are exaggerating the problem and are

  • misleading their customers.

  • I think it's mostly benefiting the companies that are selling

  • these things, truthfully.

  • [Makda] We share our findings with the retailers.

  • They declined to come on camera, but they say the science is

  • still evolving and argue that blue light can be damaging.

  • Some say they'll reinforce their staff training and add that blue

  • light filter lenses won't harm consumers.

  • And the makers of those lenses?

  • They say people feel better using them and they

  • reduce eyestrain.

  • To get a second opinion about whether blue light from screens

  • is harmful, we head to Oxford, England,

  • to meet an optical radiation expert.

  • Professor John O'Hagan knows all about blue light.

  • Blue light in our normal environment is not dangerous

  • at all.

  • The main source of blue light for most people

  • will be from the sky.

  • [Makda] From the sky?

  • Really?

  • So how much blue light actually comes from our screens?

  • We ask him to measure that for us.

  • The light level coming from the phone is so low that we need to

  • turn down the lights in the room and bring the blinds down,

  • otherwise we're not going to measure very much.

  • [Makda] Professor O'Hagan fires up the spectro-radiometer.

  • [Professor O'Hagan] Levels are very low.

  • Very low output.

  • There is no evidence that the blue light from your mobile

  • device is harmful.

  • [Makda] Three years ago, Public Health England asked him to do

  • similar testing.