No, not all blue light glasses have a yellow tint. Blue light glasses brands can make blue light glasses with either clear, yellow, amber or red tinted lenses.
Why Do My Blue Light Glasses Have a Yellow Tint?
Some manufacturers make blue light glasses with a yellow tinted lens as the yellow color is able to filter out some of the blue light wavelengths, whilst not blocking all blue light.
By not blocking all blue light you can wear yellow lenses during the day and still be able to play video games, read text and see some degree of blue and green in graphics on a computer screen.
According to Bon Charge their yellow tinted blue light glasses are also useful for people that suffer from photophobia.
Do Blue Light Glasses Have to Have Yellow Lenses?
No, blue light glasses do not have to have a yellow lens. In fact, the original blue light glasses had a red lens as that lens is designed to block 100% of the blue light wavelengths in the 380-550 nanometers range that can disturb your natural melatonin secretion cycle at night.
When looking for which pair of blue light glasses to buy, you will find brands will offer you clear tint lenses called computer glasses, yellow tint lenses or amber/red lenses called blue light glasses for sleep. This means not all blue light glasses have a yellow tint.
What Are the Advantages of Yellow Tinted Blue Light Glasses?
The benefits of wearing blue light glasses with a yellow lens are:
- Yellow tint filters out more blue light vs clear lenses
- Yellow lenses do not block out as many blue and green colors, which can be better for graphic designers and gamers
What Are the Disadvantages of Yellow Tinted Blue Light Glasses?
The disadvantages of wearing blue light glasses with a yellow lens are:
- Yellow lenses do not filter out all blue and green light wavelengths up to 550nm which can disrupt your circadian rhythm at night
- Yellow lenses will affect the colors you see on a computer screen, so it might not be ideal for all gamers and graphic designers
What Color Should Blue Light Glasses Be?
If you want to wear blue light glasses to help you sleep better then you should be wearing red tint blue glasses in the evening.
If you want to help reduce the amount of artificial blue light that your eyes are exposed to during the day then you can choose to wear blue light glasses with either a clear lens or yellow lens.
Do Blue Light Glasses Change Color?
No, blue light glasses are not transition lenses (photochromic lenses) which means they do not change color when exposed to natural sunlight, the glare off a digital screen or the light emitted from a light bulb.
However, blue light glasses with a yellow, amber or red tint will affect the colors that you can visibly see when looking through the lenses. This is how you can test if your blue light glasses are working or not.
Final Thoughts
Personally, I do sometimes find that I like to wear my yellow tinted blue light glasses during grey winter days when the natural light is dimmer outside.
Or, I just tweak the amount of blue light filtered out via the settings on the Iris Tech software on my MacBook Pro.
One last thing I have come across is that not all clear computer lenses or yellow lens blue light glasses filter out the same amount of blue light wavelengths across all brands. You can contact the brand for a spectral analysis report in order to help you compare lenses between companies if you want.
