LCD monitors and eye damage

dirtydog

dirtydog

dirtydog

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Could someone reassure me that this article is nonsense? Or is it correct? :)

It is a myth that LCDs are better for your eyes. The reason why many people have problems with eyestrain on their CRTs is mainly because the refresh rate is lower than 100 Hertz.

LCDs actually create another problem. LCDs usually have a fluorescent backlight. Fluorescent lights both emit UV rays and HEV (high energy violet) rays.

If say you put a glass monitor filter over your LCD, it may help to absorb some of this UV, as glass has the property to absorb UV rays.

As for HEV, which is also known as "blue light," there is technology now used for sunglasses that is called melanin. This is the same pigment found in your eyes that protects you from "blue light," but which decreases with age and children have not fully developed their eyes, so it may be a good idea that manufacturers should start coating all their LCDs aimed at young kids and aging adults with a melanin coating. LCDs are used in iMacs, iPods, digital cameras and cell phones.

There is a convincing body of research that shows that blue light does damage the eyes and nowadays we are exposing ourselves to very high amounts of blue light, which significantly accounts for the increase in macular denegeration.

This is a very serious issue that manufacturers of LCD-based products need to consider very seriously.

Reference Reading: http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?type=article&article_id=218392616
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http://interface.blog.com/LCDs+and+Eye+Damage/

Do LCD monitors emit UV radiation? I tried to find mention of UV radiation in the TCO 99 specifications but it didn't seem to mention it.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's probably no more worse for you than using a mobile phone a lot, living near power lines or merely breathing in & out what with all the crap in our atmosphere now. Let's also not forget the food we eat and the water we drink.
 
Its not the technology itself thats the problem, stare at anything bright for a long period of time and its bound to cause problems.

At least an lcd is only like stareing at a set of cathodes, rather than firing particles at your face like a crt.
 
Joe42 said:
Its not the technology itself thats the problem, stare at anything bright for a long period of time and its bound to cause problems.

At least an lcd is only like stareing at a set of cathodes, rather than firing particles at your face like a crt.
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It isn't the brightness that is the problem per se, it's the radiation apparently - at least on LCDs without a glass screen which is most of them. If it does emit UV light then in theory it would lead to cataracts in later life, just as cumulative exposure to sunlight does. Also as fluorescent lights do, but you don't sit staring at them for hours a day, from one foot away...

CRT monitors do not emit the same sort of radiation.
 
I wonder if this is also a problem with the increasingly popular led backlights?
I expect it isn't, in which case in a few years time this problem may have been eliminated.

This would also mean that PDAs and such that currently use led backlights aren't a problem. I think some lcd tvs are using led backlights too?
 
dirtydog said:
If it does emit UV light then in theory it would lead to cataracts in later life, just as cumulative exposure to sunlight does.
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I can get a tan from my TFT? Sweet.
 
Actually thats a good point, the uv from a tft must be very low, so much so that staring at a tft for many hours each day might be equivalent to the exposure you would get from looking at the sun for a few minutes, which is not excessive.
 
UV bounces off everything anyway, I doubt it'll be as bad as staring at a white wall in the sun, infact I doubt it's as bad as staring at anything outside now.
 
I just hope that these monitors aren't like cigarettes used to be. ie. they were considered safe at the time but decades later we recognise them as a health hazard. I guess we won't know for many years, probably decades because any damage will take that long to become apparent.
 
There is a convincing body of research that shows that blue light does damage the eyes and nowadays we are exposing ourselves to very high amounts of blue light, which significantly accounts for the increase in macular denegeration.
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Easy - ban the colour blue. :D Sue anyone who has a blue forum.... :D
 
Eliot said:
if there was something wrong like fags we would know because this is 2006 not 1950 lol
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I'm not sure I quite share your confidence about that :p The point is that any ill effects would take many years to become apparent. Like with smoking or in more recent times, BSE and CJD (which we still don't know the full impact of because not enough time has passed yet).
 
If there is a sideffect I hope its a posative one such as uv led rays mutating my eyes so I can shoot laser beams or gain xray vision :eek: .
 
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