Danger! Don’t use this kind of light casually, it may cause blindness!

Expert of this article: Li Zongou, Master of Ophthalmology, First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University

This article was reviewed by Lu Jianmin, chief physician, deputy director of the Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University

Nowadays, many people, in pursuit of beauty, have adopted the popular atmosphere lighting on the Internet when taking photos, making videos, and doing live broadcasts.

But do you know that you can’t use mood lighting casually?

Recently, a self-media blogger posted an article saying that he suffered damage to his fundus due to the use of ambient lighting, resulting in macular hemorrhage and severe deterioration of vision.

Why does ambient lighting cause macular degeneration? What other habits can cause vision damage? How can you prevent it? For the sake of your eye health, you must understand this knowledge!

What is macular degeneration?

"Macula" is not the name of a disease, but an important physiological structure on the retina. The macula has dense photoreceptor cells and is the most important area for the central vision of the human eye. It is also the most visually sensitive area. The structure of the retina is very delicate and its functions are very complex, especially the macula. Because this area has a large choroidal blood flow and special physiological activities, it is very susceptible to various factors and thus develops pathological changes, which are collectively referred to as "macular degeneration."

Although macular degeneration is not a type of cancer, most of the various macular degenerations will damage the nerve tissue and photoreceptor cells in the macula of the retina, causing permanent vision loss. Because many macular degenerations can cause serious visual impairment and are difficult to cure, some people associate it with cancer and call retinal macular degeneration "cancer of the eye."

Does using ambient lighting cause macular degeneration?

Ambient light is a type of LED light, and the brightness and color of the light can be controlled according to your needs. Ambient light with high light intensity contains a large amount of high-energy short-wave blue light, which can pass through the lens directly to the retina. Continuous and long-term exposure will cause free radicals in the retina, which will induce apoptosis of retinal pigment epithelial cells and cause permanent damage to the retina.

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In addition to damaging the eyes, high-energy short-wave blue light also inhibits the secretion of melatonin, thereby interfering with a person's normal biological rhythm, affecting mood, sleep, concentration, etc., and even causing metabolic disorders, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc.

In addition to atmosphere lights, fluorescent lights, table lamps, flash lights, etc. are also very common LED lights in daily life. Unlike atmosphere lights, lamps used for daily lighting generally do not have too high light intensity. As long as you avoid looking directly at the light source surface for a long time, the damage to the retina caused by table lamps and fluorescent lamps that meet national standards can be ignored. Although the intensity of flash lights is very high, the duration is very short. Only when the LED light reaches a certain intensity and lasts for a certain duration can it cause damage to the retina.

Will turning off the lights and playing with your phone cause macular degeneration?

Modern people's lives are inseparable from display screens such as mobile phones, tablets, and computers. Although LED backlights are commonly used, the brightness is very limited. Compared with ambient lights, the possibility of causing serious macular degeneration to the human eye in the short term is very small.

However, it should be noted that if you stare at mobile phones, computer screens, etc. for a long time at night or in a dark environment, although the intensity of the exposure is limited, the accumulated exposure plus the flickering of the screen may still cause a certain degree of light damage to the macular area. In addition, staring at fluorescent screens for a long time at night can also cause circadian rhythm disorders, thus affecting sleep.

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There are two other groups of people who should be cautious when using LED light sources such as mobile phones and computers in large quantities.

The first is children. Because children’s lenses are clearer and difficult to filter out short-wave blue light, long-term exposure to short-wave blue light is more likely to cause phototoxic damage to the retina and the formation of myopia than adults.

The second is diabetic patients. Many diabetic patients suffer from varying degrees of retinopathy, which makes their retinas more susceptible to damage from short-wave blue light.

What are the symptoms of macular degeneration?

Macular degeneration is one of the common blinding diseases in ophthalmology, and its main manifestations are decreased central vision, distorted vision, blurred vision, etc. The symptoms, characteristics, and predisposing populations of different types of macular degeneration are also different.

Central serous chorioretinopathy: Objects appear darker and smaller. Usually a self-limiting disease, but can recur, and is more common in healthy young adults aged 20-50.

Age-related macular degeneration: vision loss and distorted vision in the affected eye. Most patients are over 50 years old, which may be related to genetics, metabolism, and chronic light damage to the macula.

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Cystoid macular edema: It often occurs in patients with retinal vein occlusion, diabetic retinopathy, uveitis, and after intraocular surgery.

Myopic macular degeneration: occurs in eyes with high myopia. As myopia increases, the eye axis progressively lengthens and the risk of the disease increases.

Macular hole: Usually a primary disease, the full-thickness macular hole will lead to a significant decrease in vision, accompanied by a central dark spot. It can also be secondary to macular degeneration, eye trauma and other factors.

Epiretinal membrane: It is a proliferation of fibrous cell membranes in the macular area of ​​the retina caused by various reasons. In the early stage, there may be only mild visual distortion. If there is a significant decrease in vision, surgical treatment is required.

How to prevent macular degeneration?

The exact cause of most macular degeneration is still unclear. To prevent macular degeneration, we must first prevent chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. If you already have underlying diseases, you need to strictly control your blood pressure and blood sugar, and regularly go to the hospital's ophthalmology clinic to check your fundus.

Teenagers and children need to prevent myopia, and those who already have myopia should also have their fundus checked regularly. In addition, you also need to pay attention to maintaining a good work and rest schedule, maintaining a balanced nutritional intake, avoiding smoking and drinking, and avoiding long-term exposure to sunlight.

The Amsler grid commonly used in ophthalmology can be used for preliminary self-testing of fundus conditions.

How to use: look at the table at a distance of about 30 cm (people with myopia need to wear glasses), cover your left eye, look at the black dot in the middle of the square, then cover your right eye and look again. If the squares you see are distorted, deformed, or missing, it is very likely that there is a problem with the macula of the fundus, so seek medical treatment in time.

Amsler grid (photo provided by the author)

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