Power Lines

With suggested links to pigmentation and premature aging, is the blue light from our devices the new UV—or just a ray of hype? asks Sarah Brown.

- Sarah Brown

SOON AFTER THE FIRST iPhone came out a decade ago, fashion executive Gigi Mortimer found herself sitting next to an ophthalmologist at a dinner party in Sun Valley, Idaho. “I told him, ‘When you find out the light coming off these screens is bad for us, give me a call,’ ” she remembers. Mortimer was alarmed by studies that had started trickling out, suggesting the harmful effects the light from a smart device could have on vision, sleep—and even skin. (A 2008 report from scientists in Japan said that blue rays delay skin-barrier recovery in mice.) Concerned about the potential health risk for herself and her children, Mortimer, who got her start designing accessories, including eyeglasses, at Ralph Lauren and is now the director of design inspiration at Tory Burch, set out to create a tempered-glass mobile-phone filter that partially blocks blue light. (Called EyeJust, the company launched last year.)

Research is ongoing, and dermatologists are debating whether we’re truly at risk. But cosmetics companies are banking on the idea that consumers are as concerned about blue light damage to their skin as they are about its effects on their eyes (potential eyestrain) and sleep (a 2014 study links it to disrupted circadian rhythms, which in turn may be associated with developing depression and diabetes). Brands big and small are starting to introduce sunscreens that will block it out, in the same way our SPFs protect us from UVA and UVB rays today.