Are screens really hurting our eyes?
In April 2025, I spoke with Dr. Rani Banik, a neuro-ophthalmologist in New York City who brings integrative and functional medicine into eye care. She wrote the book Beyond Carrots, about the foods that support healthy eyes.
I wanted to ask her about something I see everywhere. Children in particular move from a phone to a television to a computer with almost no time away from a screen, and many adults cannot put their phones down either. We talked about what that does to the eyes, the habits she teaches her patients, and why a yearly eye exam matters.
What is integrative neuro-ophthalmology?
At 0:24, Dr. Banik explained her training. She is an ophthalmologist who went on to a fellowship in neuro-ophthalmology, the field that connects the brain and the eyes. As she put it, we do not actually see with our eyes. We see with our brains.
She also holds a certification in functional medicine. In her practice she looks for the root cause of an eye problem and treats it mainly with nutrition, lifestyle changes, and supplements or botanicals when they are appropriate.
Does all that screen time cause lasting damage?
At 4:44, I asked the question I most wanted answered. Many people know they cannot put their phones down, and children may go a whole day without a break from screens. Are they harming their eyes?
Her answer was reassuring. In her view, looking at screens all day does no permanent damage to the eyes. Still, it can cause what eye doctors call digital eye strain. She described blurry vision, trouble focusing up close, dry eyes, headaches, and strain in the neck and shoulders.
What simple habits ease digital eye strain?
Dr. Banik believes prevention works best, and she gives her patients five tips. The first is what she called the 20-20-20 rule. Every twenty minutes, take a twenty-second break and look at something at least twenty feet away. In her explanation, looking into the distance relaxes the small muscles inside the eye that we use to focus up close.
Her second tip was to blink more. At 7:45, she had me guess how often people blink, and I guessed right. Interestingly, she said people blink far less when they stare at a screen, so the eyes dry out. Being mindful of blinking, and now and then blinking firmly to bring tears and oils to the surface, can prevent a lot of that strain.
Do blue light glasses actually help?
Her third tip was to reduce the blue light coming from screens, though not in the way many people expect. At 7:51, she said there is no evidence that blue blocking glasses relieve eye strain or protect vision. They may help with sleep and circadian rhythm, which she called a different story.
What she recommends instead are the screen filters built into phones and screen filter apps. Some follow the natural cycle of the sun, and some remove the fast flicker that screens use to save battery life.
At 22:22, I mentioned the blue blocker sunglasses I used to like, which made it hard to see green traffic lights. She suggested a simple test. Put the glasses on and look at something blue on a screen. If you can still see blue, the glasses are not blocking it. For sleep, she prefers a deep red, orange, or amber tint, worn in the house and not in the car.
Why does time outdoors matter for children’s eyes?
Her fourth tip was to get outdoors more. In her view, children who spend more time outside have less strain on their eyes and a lower risk of worsening nearsightedness, which she described as reaching epidemic proportions.
At 14:17, I asked whether screens might not damage the eyes while too little time outside does. It is not proven, she said, but she and her colleagues suspect it. In young children who spend most of the day focusing up close, she explained, that effort can make the eye grow longer, which leads to nearsightedness. Unfortunately, she said, nearsightedness can raise the risk of retinal tears, retinal detachment, and glaucoma later in life.
What should people eat to protect their eyes?
At 3:18, Dr. Banik explained why she wrote Beyond Carrots. Many people believe carrots are all the eyes need, yet the eye is so complex that it depends on many different nutrients. Her book matches nutrients and foods to dry eye, cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and eye strain.
Her fifth tip came back to food. She described lutein and zeaxanthin as natural shields inside the eye that work like built-in blue light and ultraviolet (UV) blockers. We cannot make them, so they must come from diet or supplements. She named leafy greens such as spinach and kale, along with orange and yellow fruits and vegetables.
Can the sun, a microwave, or a game of basketball harm the eyes?
At 18:15, I asked about the old worry that standing near a microwave oven causes cataracts. As far as she knows, it does not, since nearly everyone uses microwaves and we would have seen the harm by now. The sun is a different matter. She wears sunglasses even on cloudy days, because too much sun can lead to preventable eye disease, from cataracts to tumors in the back of the eye.
From 21:16, she explained how to choose sunglasses. Brand and price do not matter. What matters is a label saying the lenses block all UVA and UVB light, or a UV400 rating. She likes wide, wraparound styles that also protect the eyelids, where skin cancers can develop.
She also told the story of a teenage basketball player who lost vision after a finger went into his eye. In fact, she said, sports goggles are a simple way to avoid that kind of permanent injury in any sport where a ball or a hand can reach the eye.
Why is a yearly eye exam worth the time?
At 16:08, I mentioned that I had LASIK, a type of refractive surgery, many years ago, and that my distance vision has slipped since. She explained that later changes such as cataracts can alter how a person sees. So, in her view, the surgery had not failed.
At 26:15, she made a broader point. People see the dentist and get routine checkups, yet many never think about the eyes until something goes wrong. She recommends an eye exam every year after age forty. In her experience, an eye exam can reveal many conditions elsewhere in the body, and she has found signs of diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease that way. Of course, I told her I would make an appointment with my own eye doctor.
Who is Dr. Rani Banik?
Dr. Rani Banik is a neuro-ophthalmologist with a certification in functional medicine and an associate professor of ophthalmology. She founded EnVision Health NYC, her private practice on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and teaches at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. She is the author of Beyond Carrots. Her website is drranibanik.com.
What can listeners take away from this conversation?
In Dr. Banik’s view, screens do not permanently damage our eyes, but the way we use them still matters. Short breaks to look into the distance, more blinking, more time outside, good food, and real sun protection are small habits that anyone can start today. Above all, Dr. Banik wants people to see an eye doctor regularly.
How do I approach this today?
Today my practice focuses on helping people come off benzodiazepines and other medications gradually, and on medication for alcohol and opioid dependence. Physical dependence is not addiction, and the safest way off is usually slow.
This page is educational. It is not medical advice, and listening to the episode or reading this page does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Decisions about starting, continuing, or tapering any medication should be made with your own physician.
Full transcript
A note from Dr. Leeds: my guests speak from their own experience and expertise, and the terminology they use is their own. Whatever the topic, this show holds to one distinction: physical dependence on a prescribed medication is not addiction. This transcript is educational content, not medical advice, and nothing here creates a doctor-patient relationship.
Read the full transcript (27 minutes)
Dr. Mark Leeds [00:03] Dr. Rani Banik, welcome to the podcast.
Dr. Rani Banik [00:08] Oh, thank you so much for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Dr. Mark Leeds [00:11] Thank you. So I was reading about you, and it’s very interesting about what’s going on with screen time. Can you tell me briefly, what is integrative neuro-ophthalmology?
Dr. Rani Banik [00:24] Yeah so first of all I’m trained as an ophthalmologist I did a residency in ophthalmology learning how to manage eye diseases using medical and surgical approaches and then I did a fellowship in neuro-ophthalmology which is the connection between our brain and our eyes because we don’t actually see with our eyes we see with our brains there are many pathways there in the brain about 50 of our brain is dedicated to our visual pathways so that’s what I deal with in my practice And on top of that, I also have certification in functional medicine. And so that’s why I use, I combine everything together. So I use an integrative functional medicine approach to eye health, really based in trying to figure out where the root cause of the problem is, where it’s coming from, and then to treat it using really primarily nutrition, lifestyle modifications, supplementation when appropriate, botanicals, and some other modalities as well. So that’s basically what I do in a nutshell.
Dr. Mark Leeds [01:24] Oh, that’s great. And tell me a little bit about Envision Health NYC, the organization that you had founded.
Dr. Rani Banik [01:31] Yeah, so I was actually in academic medicine for the majority of my career. I always had a title. I still have a title, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, but I was doing that full time for much of my career. But then when I started to use more integrative and functional medicine approaches, I realized I couldn’t do that within the confines of an academic setting because it requires a lot more time with each patient. And we were only given about maybe 15, 20 minutes with each patient. So I ended up opening up my own private practice. And that’s what Envision Health NYC is it’s my private practice located in Manhattan where I live and work. I still do teach. So now I basically split my time, 50 percent in the private practice and 50 percent of my time still in academics, teaching and doing research, et cetera.
Dr. Mark Leeds [02:21] Oh, OK. What part of Manhattan?
Dr. Rani Banik [02:24] So my practice is on the Upper East Side. It’s right next to Central Park. So if you ever come visit, we have a beautiful backyard of Central Park. It’s on 76th Street and Fifth Avenue. And then the hospital I work at where I teach is New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, which is the oldest eye hospital in the USA. And that’s located on 14th Street and 2nd Avenue, if anyone’s familiar with New York City.
Dr. Mark Leeds [02:48] Okay. Yeah, that’s a great area. I once took some time to explore Central Park and I went up and down that area. So, yeah, really, really beautiful area around there.
Dr. Rani Banik [03:00] Yeah, it’s very nice. And it’s right by lots of shopping also. So some of my patients, you know, when I see them, I have to dilate their eyes. And so they have to wait for a little bit. So sometimes they go out, grab some coffee, go take a walk in the park or do a little shopping and then come back. So it’s really a great, great area to be in.
Dr. Mark Leeds [03:18] Yeah, definitely. And tell me about your book, Beyond Carrots.
Dr. Rani Banik [03:23] So this is a book I wrote because there really was nothing like it out there to guide people on what they should be eating for their eyes. Many people think carrots are the be all and end all of vision. Like if you just eat enough carrots, you’re guaranteed 20, 20 vision, but that’s not true. And when it comes to ocular nutrition, because the eye is so complex, we need a lot of nutrients to keep it healthy. We need over 30 nutrients. So I wrote the book to kind of guide people. Okay. These are the nutrients and these are the foods you can find those nutrients in. So there are over 40 foods that I highlight in the book and I go through the entire alphabet from A to Z. And so there are nutrients there for corneal health. If you have dry eye, there are nutrients there for cataracts, for macular degeneration, glaucoma, eye strain. There are all kinds of nutrients and foods that can support all aspects of your eye health. So yeah, it’s available on Amazon in print and also in Kindle.
Dr. Mark Leeds [04:21] Okay. Yeah, that sounds definitely important. And that’s always good to get your nutrition from food if possible. So that’s good.
Dr. Rani Banik [04:28] Yeah, I’m a big advocate of food as medicine and, you know, try to get it the way nature intended naturally. Yes, you know, if you have gaps in your diet, you can take a supplement, but really it’s about nourishing your body and your eyes with those right nutrients through food.
Dr. Mark Leeds [04:44] Yeah. And I really wanted to ask you about the issue with screen time as far as, I mean, I think everybody is kind of aware that there’s a technology addiction issue in our society that, you know, people can’t put down their phones. I mean, everybody has their phone out, you know, even people that really shouldn’t be using a phone at work and they, you know, you get on an airplane, the pilot is looking at his phone before he takes off. You know, it’s a little bit scary, but in children, you know, they just are nonstop. They go from one screen to another. You’re like, you know, you’ve been using your phone eight hours straight, get off the phone, then they go watch TV or use a computer. There’s like never any downtime away from all these screens. And, you know, I think people are aware that there’s an addiction issue, but maybe they think, well, that’s okay. You know, I can kind of live with it, but is it, are they actually causing damage to their eyes by doing that?
Dr. Rani Banik [05:35] Yeah, no, that’s, those are, that’s a really valid point, you know, because we’re spending, you know, adults spend anywhere from seven to 10 hours or more on a screen every day. And kids spend over six hours a day on screens, which is kind of mind boggling that there’s so much screen has used that addiction. The good news is that there’s no permanent damage done to your eyes by looking at screens all day, but there can be some short-term issues. Like we call it digital eye strain in the eye care world. It’s a syndrome and many people experience it. Even kids can experience it where they have blurry vision, trouble focusing up close. They just can’t focus. Sometimes they develop dry eye. Sometimes even light sensitivity or headaches or even migraine from looking at a screen all the time. And also part of digital eye strain is neck and shoulder strain. So it kind of all comes together as a syndrome. There are lots of ways to treat it. I actually think that prevention is best. And there are five tips I give my patients to try to mitigate the negative effects of this screen time. So I can share those with you if you’d like. Those five things, really simple things anyone can do. So number one is something we call the 20-20-20 rule. And many people think of 20-20 as perfect vision. This is a little bit different, which basically means that every 20 minutes, set your timer, take a 20-second break, and look at something, not at your screen, not up close, but at 20, at least 20 feet away. So look across the room, look out the window, look at something in the distance, because that relaxes the muscles inside your eyes. We have these muscles that help us to accommodate or to focus. So it relaxes those muscles and it can really improve your endurance when you’re on a screen. So set your timer, try to do the 20, 20, 20 rule. I know it’s a little difficult in the beginning, but once you do it regularly, you’ll kind of get into the hang of it. The second thing I recommend is just blinking, blinking more often. I’m going to ask you, Dr. Leeds, any idea how many how often we blink how often do people blink a day with let’s say a minute take a guess
Dr. Mark Leeds [07:45] I’m trying to count my blinks now maybe 15 20.
Dr. Rani Banik [07:51] That’s exactly right yeah so most people blink about 15 to 20 times a minute but when you’re on a screen people only blink three to five times a minute so there’s a huge difference you know when we’re focused on a screen we’re intently looking at a screen, we just don’t blink as much. And what happens is our eyes dry out. So it leads to dry eye, which is part of digital eye strain. So, you know, to combat that, just blink more, be more mindful of blinking. And sometimes even do some really like forceful blinks to get the tears flowing and get the oils delivered to your eyes so they don’t dry out. So simply by blinking more, you can avoid a lot of digital eye strain. The third tip is use or is to decrease the amount of blue light coming from your screens. Now, I know a lot of people, they think, oh, that means I should go get blue blocking glasses, right? And I tell them, no, there is zero evidence to show that blue blocking glasses actually do what they claim to do. Zero evidence. They’ve done studies on this. There is no study that shows that they benefit us in terms of vision. Maybe they help with circadian rhythm and sleep issues, et cetera. That’s a different story. But when it comes to your vision, they don’t relieve eye strain or fatigue or anything like that. What does help are we have built-in screen filters on our phones. Many of us use, depending on what type of phone you have night shift mode that decreases blue light, but there are also other screen apps, screen filter apps that you can download to your phone that will remove the blue light or sync it with your time of day. So, the, you know, the technology is very sophisticated. It knows when the sun rises in the morning, when the sun sets. So it mirrors that blue light emission from your screen to match that of the sun’s natural cycle. So it helps with sleep as well, can help with eye strain. And then some of these apps can also take out the flicker rate. Many people don’t realize, but their screens are constantly flickering very quickly to save battery life. And that can lead to eye strain when you’re on screen. So by taking out the flicker rate, yes, maybe your battery won’t last as long, but you won’t have those symptoms of eye strain. That’s tip number three. Now I can talk about tip number four, which is kind of a, you know, it may seem a little intuitive, which is to get outdoors more, but there’s a little bit more to it than just that. Like, yes, when we’re outdoors, we’re not on our screens, but there are studies to show that, especially in kids and younger people, when you spend more time outdoors, there’s less strain on your eyes. There’s less risk of myopia progression. Now, myopia is nearsightedness and nearsightedness is really reaching epidemic proportions in our society. We estimate that about 50% of the population will be nearsighted by the year 2050. So it’s a major public health concern. And by just getting outside more, you can decrease your risk of nearsightedness. There are studies to show that. And actually in some countries now, not yet in the US, but in some countries, they’ve mandated at least two hours of outdoor playtime for kids during the school day to combat that. But they haven’t yet, I don’t know of any place in the US that’s done that yet, but hopefully they will at some point. So get outdoors. And then the last thing is nutrition. We were talking about nutrition earlier, but there are certain nutrients that basically act like blue blockers and UV blockers inside our eyes. They’re kind of like our natural shields against light toxicity. And so these nutrients, they have fancy names. They’re called lutein and zeaxanthin. Many people may have heard of them from a supplement. Maybe their supplement It has some lutein in it, but these are really important eye nutrients. We can’t make them, so we need to get them from external sources, either diet or supplements. And there’s lots of foods I talk about in my book that provide these nutrients. Some examples would be like leafy greens, like spinach and kale, collard greens, and other orange and yellow fruits and veggies. But these are my five tips that I give to my patients. If you want to learn more, I’m actually hosting an online event called the Eye Health Summit that’s coming up in May. And I have 35 speakers talking about various aspects of eye health. And we go we take deep dives into all of these topics. So blue light, dry eye, light sensitivity, migraine, myopia in kids, kids eye health, like all of these lifestyle nutrition. We’re talking about all these topics to help empower people to know what they need to do to keep their eyes healthy. So I encourage people to join the Eye Health Summit. It’s free. You can join. You can listen to one talk. If you’re interested, you can listen to all 36. It’s up to you. But you’ll get access if you register.
Dr. Mark Leeds [12:45] OK, how can I register for that?
Dr. Rani Banik [12:47] Yeah, so it’s very easy. You just go to our website. It’s called theeyehealthsummit.com. So again, the eye health summit dot com. There’s other summits out there, but look for the eye health summit dot com. And it’s taking place May 1st through May 7th, 2025. The first time.
Dr. Mark Leeds [13:06] And people will see your picture name on the website when they go there.
Dr. Rani Banik [13:10] Yes, they’ll see the website. There’s a lot of information. You’ll see all the speakers. So if you can see if you’re watching this, you can see that we have 35 speakers. These are all, it’s really small print, but these are all the topics we’re covering. It’s a really pretty range of topics. Also like flashes, floaters, macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, things that happen at any age we’re covering in the eye health summit. So it’s a great resource. And, you know, the truth is when people, hopefully you’re going to see your eye doctor on a regular basis, like you go to see the dentist, et cetera. But when people go to see their eye doctor, they only really get about 10 or 15 minutes face to face with their eye doctor. So it’s not enough time to really give people all the information they need. So this is really kind of as a way to supplement that, you know, see your eye doctor, get your eye exam every year, but also participate in the eye health summit. You will learn so much. It’ll be really I like to say it’s eye opening. You know, it’s a pun, but what you’re going to learn is really going to change the way you think about your vision and protecting your vision for life.
Dr. Mark Leeds [14:17] Yeah. So I was wondering, is it sounds like from what you’re saying that using screens won’t cause permanent damage to your eyes, but not going outside enough might cause long-term damage. I mean, at least maybe in the sense of causing near-sightedness?
Dr. Rani Banik [14:35] Yes. So I think that’s probably, I mean, it hasn’t been really proven yet, but we’re thinking this is probably what’s leading to this myopia epidemic is our worlds are spent, you know, at arm’s length or at the computer, like a little bit further out. And naturally, our eyes are not meant to focus up close for such prolonged periods of time. If you think about our ancestors, hunter-gatherer ancestors, they were out there, you know, looking at distances, looking for predators. They weren’t really spending that much time up close like we are right now. So our whole society has changed in terms of where we’re doing most of our activities. And because of that, the eye muscles have to work extra hard. They’re called ciliary muscles inside our eyes that help us to accommodate. And in young kids, it causes the eye to get longer. And when those muscles are constantly focusing, the eye elongates and it leads to myopia. So this is kind of the progression of what happens. And we need to counteract it. You know, we really need to act on it because myopia in itself, I mean, yes, nearsightedness is not such a great thing to be or to have, but it can also lead to other complications later on in life, like retinal tears, retinal detachments, glaucoma. We don’t want our population to be at risk for all of these potentially sight-threatening diseases. And it starts with teaching our kids early to balance their time, get outdoors, spend less time on screens. Yeah. And we should probably take that advice as well as adults.
Dr. Mark Leeds [16:08] Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think that’s good advice for everyone. My vision used to be really terrible. Like I couldn’t see anything on the eye chart. And like probably 25 years ago, I got the LASIK procedure. I don’t know if that was a good idea or not, but I got that done. And my vision was like 20/15 at first, and now it’s probably like 20/40. I know however it is, I can barely pass the eye exam for driving because I did that and I had to squint a little bit to pass it. So I may have done that to myself probably just by using squints too much.
Dr. Rani Banik [16:40] Not necessarily. We actually have a speaker talking about this, Dr. Sunny Goel, who’s a really well-known refractive surgeon who does LASIK type procedures in Baltimore. And he talks about how LASIK can work for a long period of time, but then at some point in your life, your eye changes, you may develop some other eye issue, like what we call presbyopia, which is trouble reading up close or cataracts, which will change the power of your eye. So these other aging changes can happen that may make your LASIK less effective. So it’s not that it didn’t work. It’s that it lasted for, you know, however long, 25 years for you, or maybe less than maybe a little bit more, but there are other things that may develop that may impact how you see. So probably my guess is that, you know, if you were 20/15 after your LASIK, that probably you could get that 20/15 back if the other eye issues were fixed or, you know, addressed. Again, it’s important to go see your eye doctor on a regular basis, but LASIK is pretty common. It’s, you know, there are many other procedures now that are very, very effective refractive surgery procedures. They’re not for everyone. And that’s why, you know, again, listening in on the Eye Health Summit is so useful because you get the whole perspective about eye health. It’s not just one topic alone. You get, you know, various talks from different insights, from different experts, their unique insights, their experiences, is and you can really kind of put it together and decide what to do next.
Dr. Mark Leeds [18:15] Yeah, that sounds good. Is it true that microwave ovens can cause people to get cataracts if you stand too close for too long? And if you’ve heard that one.
Dr. Rani Banik [18:26] That’s a great question. And it’s something that I’ve thought about for years. You know, oh my goodness, am I getting this radiation? Is it potentially going to do damage to me? As far as we know, no, no, no, that’s not the case. Because if that were true, I mean, the vast majority of people use microwaves and most people aren’t going blind from cataracts and radiation damage, et cetera. I think we would have seen that years ago if that were a risk. But other types of radiation damage can really affect the eye. The sun, the sun emits all kinds of wavelengths of light, UVA, UVB rays, shorter frequency rays. And we know that too much sun exposure can lead to serious eye issues. So another thing we recommend is uv protection when outdoors particularly between the hours of 10 a.m to 2 p.m even if it’s a cloudy day I always wear my sunglasses because we’ve seen like so many preventable eye diseases from too much sun exposure from cataracts to even tumors in the back of the eye from too much sun exposure so I don’t want to scare anybody but you know it’s a simple thing you can do is just to wear good quality sunglasses that are UV blocking. And then there are other professions like welders, for example, they’re more from the welding arcs and, you know, the intense heat that’s generated. They’re also, they have like, you know, workplace risks that put them at risk for higher, higher risk for various eye conditions. So, but again, it’s all about prevention. Even people who play sports, you know, I recently saw, this is such an unfortunate story. I saw a young kid, 16 year old, who was playing basketball without any eye protection. He had a finger that poked him in the eye, like, you know, in the opposing team, someone’s finger went into his eye. He immediately lost vision. Basically, he had severe retinal and optic nerve damage from playing basketball. And it’s irreversible, unfortunately. And something like that could have been avoided by simply wearing eye protection. And I know a lot of people don’t think about, oh, basketball is not a sport where you need to wear protective eyewear, but any kind of contact sport like that, or any kind of sport where there’s a ball, like a, you know, an object that may potentially come and hit you in the eye. It’s such a simple thing to do is to simply protect your eyes by wearing goggles, sports goggles rather than to suffer the consequences of potentially losing your vision. So just some things to think about, some food for thought for people out there about your daily activities and what’s safe and what may potentially be putting you at risk for an eye issue.
Dr. Mark Leeds [21:06] Yeah, yeah, definitely. Do you recommend a brand of sunglasses, you know, that’s pretty good as far as protecting against all the bad kinds of light?
Dr. Rani Banik [21:16] Yeah, that’s a great question. There’s no particular brand, but what I would say is look for a sticker on the sunglass that says 100% UVA, UVB blocking, just as long as it has that sticker on it, or sometimes it may say UV400, which is pretty much equivalent, meaning it’s blocking all of those potentially harmful rays. And what I tell people is it doesn’t matter the price. You can get a $10 pair of sunglasses with that sticker, or you can get a designer $300 pair of sunglasses. As long as it has a sticker on it, you’re being protected. And the other thing I recommend for sunglasses is to wear sunglasses that are wide, because you also want to protect not just your eyes, but your eyelids and the skin around your eyes as well, because people can develop skin cancers around the eyes, especially in the eyelids. So skin cancers like basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma can happen. And so sunglasses can help protect against that. So big, like the where I love, I love like the big wrap-around styles. I mean, they may not be the most stylish, but they’re protecting your eyes, and they do work.
Dr. Mark Leeds [22:22] Yeah, yeah, that’s great. I like the, or I used to like the blue blocker sunglasses, like the brand ones, and they, I mean, they make everything look great outside, except driving, you can’t see the green lights. So for some reason, it blocks them out. So it’s kind of probably not safe for driving, but I don’t even know if they’re good for protecting the eyes. But yeah, they just kind of make everything look beautiful outside and sharp. The blue blocker glasses. Interesting. Yeah, but they block all the blue light. So, and I guess that includes the green light on a traffic light.
Dr. Rani Banik [22:54] I guess it depends which spectrum it’s the filter is blocking. But I always tell my patients, you know, again, there’s no research that shows that blue blocking glasses work for your screen. But if you want to get them for sleep, you can. And there’s a simple way to tell, this is kind of what you’re alluding to, Dr. Leeds, is put them on and see if you can see the color blue. So if you look at your screen and you can still see blue on your screen, you know that those glasses are not blocking 100% of the blue light. So maybe get that as a different tint. I usually recommend like a really dark tint, like deep red or orange or amber, because that will probably block about 99% of the blue light versus the clear blue blockers or the ones that are like lightly tinted yellow. They’re probably only blocking about anywhere from 10 to 30% of the blue light, which is really not enough if you’re on a screen all day and you’re worried about that and worried about sleep, et cetera. You get the deeper tints.
Dr. Mark Leeds [23:48] Yeah. The good ones, you can’t, when you’re driving, you can’t see the blue lights on a police car. All you see is the red light, which is interesting. I’m like, that’s not a real police car.
Dr. Rani Banik [23:58] Which is probably not the best thing, right? So it’s probably better to use it in the house and get a separate pair of like and night driving glasses.
Dr. Mark Leeds [24:06] Yeah. So, and May, so the summit’s coming in May. That’s to celebrate May’s, are we celebrating something with the eyes in May? I forgot.
Dr. Rani Banik [24:16] We are, yes. We’re celebrating National Healthy Vision Month. So we’re kicking off with the summit. Yeah, so it’s just, you know, it’s a great way to raise public awareness of eye health. You know, most of us don’t really think about our eyes. You know, we think about our gut health or our skin health or our heart health, but eye health is kind of like an afterthought unless something goes wrong. But I really wanted to create the summit and bring people together to make it a priority, make it a priority in our lives. Because, you know, if you ask most people, you know, of the five senses, you know, your sight, your smell, your hearing, your taste, your touch, which is the most important. Most people will say my sight is my most valuable sense. But they may say that, but they’re not really doing things to promote their sight or to keep their vision, their eyes healthy and safe. So this is a campaign to try to raise awareness of how we can like the many ways we can do that is to be proactive. Take care of your eyes. You have two for that need to last you a lifetime. And there’s so much, you know, that we’re exposed to every day light toxicity, which we’re talking about, but also environmental toxins, smoke and fumes. And even personal care products that may potentially do damage to our eyes. So be proactive about your vision health.
Dr. Mark Leeds [25:38] Yeah, yeah, definitely. In fact, I didn’t realize how dangerous that Vicks VapoRub, yeah, Vicks VapoRub, get that stuff in your eye. Apparently, if you don’t wash it out, it can immediately damage your cornea.
Dr. Rani Banik [25:51] Yes, yes. It’s got menthol in it. And so it’s like a peppermint oil, basically. It’s very toxic to the eye. So, yeah, you want to try to even fumes like what you’re saying, like even the fumes can irritate your eyes.
Dr. Mark Leeds [26:05] Yeah. Well, it’s a lot to think about. I’m going to make an appointment with my eye doctor after we finish.
Dr. Rani Banik [26:15] Oh, I’m so glad. I accomplished my goal. If I can just get one person to go for their, you know, I always say, you know, we go see our dentist like twice a year. We get our annual checkups once a year, get our labs done once a year. We get colonoscopies, mammograms. But how many people know that you actually should be seeing your eye doctor once a year after the age of 40, go for your annual checkup once a year, because there’s so much we can pick up on an eye exam. There’s about 200 medical conditions we can pick up based on an eye exam. I mean, I can’t tell you how many people have diagnosed with diabetes or high cholesterol or heart disease, because I’ve seen something on their eye exam that kind of is like a red You know, it’s like a red flag, like something’s going on. So go see your eye doctor because they could they really are an important part of your health care team. It shouldn’t just be like an afterthought or only if I need glasses, I’m going to go see the eye doctor. It’s much more than just needing glasses.
Dr. Mark Leeds [27:09] Definitely. Yeah, that’s definitely an appointment with your eye doctor right away. Thank you, Dr. Rani Banik. Thank you for joining me today.
Dr. Rani Banik [27:18] Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me.
