Media focus on the anti-blue light glasses market: the quality is uneven, fifty yuan can buy the test report

Recently, many schools have chosen to use online classes to let students learn at home, so mobile phones, tablets, computers, etc. have become essential products for students. Parents are generally worried that long-term online classes will affect their children's vision to a certain extent. Many merchants have taken the opportunity to launch anti-blue light glasses under the slogans of "anti-blue light", "anti-radiation" and "anti-myopia", claiming that such glasses can effectively protect vision.

On May 10, the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council gave guidance and suggestions at a press conference on the problem of excessive use of eyes caused by students' online classes at home during the epidemic prevention and control period. At the press conference, experts clearly pointed out that anti-blue light and eye fatigue are not directly related to myopia prevention and control.

However, the Legal Daily reporter's investigation found that in some e-commerce platforms and physical stores, glasses with labels such as "anti-blue light" and "anti-myopia" are still favored by students and parents.

Stained with anti-blue light is easy to sell, monthly sales can reach more than 10,000 pairs

"Legal Daily" reporter in an e-commerce platform to "anti-blue light glasses" as a keyword search, found that some merchants monthly sales of up to 25,000 pairs, of which the lowest price is only 5.9 yuan, the highest up to 3781 yuan.

Taobao data shows that in the price of choosing anti-blue light glasses, 33% of consumers chose less than 56 yuan, 60% of consumers chose 56 yuan to 169 yuan, and 9% of consumers chose 169 yuan to 489 yuan.

"Legal Daily" reporter randomly clicked on an optical shop with monthly sales of more than 20,000 pairs and anti-blue light glasses priced at 69 yuan, and found that the merchants focused on promoting the efficacy of products "anti-blue light", "anti-fatigue", "anti-radiation" and "anti-myopia". However, in the details of the glasses, the seller only showed the data of the lens anti-blue light, and did not directly explain its efficacy. From the photos and text in the comment area of the business, it can be found that not only students but also middle-aged and elderly people have purchased the glasses.

These business customer service with similar slogans told the Legal Daily reporter that the anti-blue light glasses they sold can effectively prevent myopia.

An optical shop customer service on an e-commerce platform said that the role of anti-blue light glasses is to filter blue light radiation from computer mobile phones, have eye protection functions, and long-term wear can alleviate fatigue. For students who regularly take online classes, wearing anti-blue light glasses can prevent myopia.

Yang Jiang (pseudonym) is a parent of a student who is convinced that blue light-proof glasses are helpful to children. According to Yang Jiang, in recent years, many parents around him have bought anti-blue light glasses for their children, and those who are short-sighted will basically choose lenses with anti-blue light functions when wearing glasses; those who are not short-sighted will also buy a pair of flat light as eye protectors.

"Recently, I saw that the child was either holding the mobile phone all the time or playing with the iPad all the time, and I could only minimize the damage caused to his eyes by electronic products, so I went to the optical store to buy a pair of anti-blue light glasses." Yang Jiang said that he did not dare to buy casually online, and he had to take his children to the physical store to try it first.

So, what is the situation of offline optical stores?

The reporter of "Legal Daily" randomly visited the optical shop of a shopping mall. Compared with e-commerce platforms, the price of anti-blue light glasses sold in physical stores is higher, and the prices of anti-blue light glasses of different brands vary greatly. For example, the price of domestic brands is generally around 500 yuan, and the price of imported brands can reach tens of thousands of yuan. The price of the same brand and the same series of anti-blue light glasses also varies, but it is mainly 400 yuan to 1000 yuan.

The optician explained that the price difference was mainly due to the thickness of the lenses, which had nothing to do with the anti-blue light effect.

According to the clerk, at present, the anti-blue light glasses on the market are mainly divided into two types. One is the anti-blue light lens of "film reflection" technology, that is, coating a film on the surface of the lens to reduce blue light reflection; the other is the anti-blue light lens of "substrate absorption" technology, that is, adding special substances such as anti-blue light substrate factors to the lens material to absorb blue light.

"Better anti-blue light glasses will not filter out all the blue light, but filter harmful blue light, revealing beneficial blue light." The clerk said, "In daily life, it is enough to buy blue-light-proof glasses of about 500 yuan." ”

Subsequently, the clerk randomly selected a blue-light-proof glasses for anti-blue light testing. Only to see her take out a laser pointer, irradiated on the anti-blue light glasses, the blue light after filtering was significantly reduced, and only a small blue dot could be seen. Ordinary glasses that are not anti-blue light have no obvious change in the blue light penetrated after the above tests. The clerk said the blue-light-proof glasses tested protected against 95 percent of blue light.

The reporter of "Legal Daily" randomly visited several other optical stores and found that there were anti-blue light glasses for sale. A number of clerks said that customers who have recently purchased glasses have basically come for the "anti-blue light" function. Seeing that the "Legal Daily" reporter wore myopic glasses, some clerks also enthusiastically recommended anti-blue light lenses, saying that many consumers now choose anti-blue light lenses when dispensing glasses, and the transaction rate recommended by the clerk is almost 95%. In the case of the same brand and the same material, the price of anti-blue light coated lenses is generally 100 yuan to 300 yuan more expensive.

Cai Qin (pseudonym) is studying for a master's degree at a university and has just finished eye surgery. Because he often had to look at electronic screens, he was worried that his vision would be affected, so he bought anti-blue light glasses on the recommendation of a friend.

Before purchasing, Cai Qin deliberately understood the anti-blue light glasses, he knew that the anti-blue light glasses were not as effective as the merchants advertised to prevent the screen from harming the eyes, but after wearing them for a period of time, he found that "the eyes do not seem to be very sore when looking at the screen."

Test reports can be bought everywhere, and anti-blue film floods the market

The Legal Daily reporter noted that on some e-commerce platforms, some parents left a message in the after-sales feedback: "After wearing anti-blue light glasses, I feel dizzy, nauseous, and want to vomit." ”

According to Popular Science China, blue light does have the potential to cause harm to some eye tissues, but the biggest source of blue light is sunlight, and other sources include fluorescent lamps and LED lights. The amount of blue light exposure on the screen is much smaller than the exposure of the sun's blue light, and there is a lack of valid evidence that the glasses on the market that claim to protect the eyes from the effects of blue light are lacking in valid evidence.

In addition, in the investigation, the Legal Daily reporter also found that on an e-commerce platform, multiple sellers of different brands gave the same anti-blue light detection report for the glasses they sold, and the test reports given by some merchants were either blurry or the pictures were too small to identify the content.

As a result, the Legal Daily reporter searched on an e-commerce platform with the keyword "test report" and found that there were many sellers who provided anti-blue light detection report certificates, with prices ranging from 50 yuan to 300 yuan. On a second-hand trading platform, there are also a large number of sellers who provide such proofs.

In addition to anti-blue light glasses, the Legal Daily reporter found that the anti-blue light film used in digital products such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones is also the choice of many consumers, with prices ranging from 20 yuan to 600 yuan. A seller of anti-blue light film said that the anti-blue film sold at a price of 30 yuan can effectively protect vision and is suitable for night use.

In addition to anti-blue light glasses and anti-blue light film, the legal daily reporter also found that the major mobile phone application malls also provide many anti-blue light mode software, such as night light source, eye protection master, eye guard and so on. This type of software implements the anti-blue light mode it provides by changing the brightness and color of the mobile phone screen.

Computers with Windows 10 installed systems can also offer a feature called "Night Mode Settings," which describes "blue light emitted from the screen affecting your sleep at night." Turning on night mode reduces screen blue light and improves your sleep quality." When this feature is enabled, the screen brightness is slightly dimmed and yellowish. On Apple computers with MacOSCatalina installed, there is also a "night watch" function similar to that of Windows 10 systems. However, the feature is not described as "reducing blue light" and allows the user to adjust the screen color temperature.