Concerns about eye strain have caused a surge in eyewear companies offering blue-light-blocking glasses, which claim to protect your eyes from screens’ blue light. “When we talk about ‘blue light’ from screens, we are referring to visible blue light which has a shorter wavelength than UV light,” Voon said. While there is a lack of hard evidence that blue light on its own causes eye strain or headaches, many people do find blue light glasses useful, and, according to Voon, are unlikely to cause any harm. We put 21 pairs of blue-light-blocking glasses to the test and found 10 that were both comfortable and effective.
Readily accessible technology in our pockets and the ability to take our work home with us or on our travels have certainly made life more convenient. But it’s understandable to worry if all that screen time is bad for our eyes. According to Denise Voon, MCOptom, clinical adviser at London’s College of Optometrists, screens aren’t necessarily bad for you, though a lot of screen time can be. “Prolonged use of screens can lead to eye strain, headaches, and dry eyes,” Voon said.
Best Overall
Benicci Stylish Blue Light Blocking Glasses
Amazon
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View On Benicci.com
Our Ratings
Why We Love It
These glasses have an incomparably snug and natural fit, even for those not used to wearing glasses.
What to Consider
These may not fit as well on men as they do on women.
Of the 21 blue light glasses tested, Benicci Glasses felt the most natural and comfortable — we nearly forgot we were wearing glasses at all. That’s largely because, unlike other glasses, these don’t have a blue tint or film; they’re perfectly clear. It’s also due to the fact that they fit perfectly on the nose and just above the ears while not slipping at all due to their slightly textured feel. However, they may not be the most comfortable for those with larger faces.
The Benicci’s glasses don’t fog up and are extremely light. Though lightweight, these glasses are also very durable. We pulled at them in multiple directions, trying to snap them, and they held up just fine. These glasses also come with a case — which is great for traveling — and a nifty light to prove their effectiveness against blue light. But the best thing about these glasses is the price. Even if you’re skeptical about whether or not blue light glasses are for you, these Beniccis are hardly an investment.
Price at time of publish: $30
The Details: One size | No prescription option
Travel + Leisure / Meredith Butcher
Travel + Leisure / Meredith Butcher
Best for Headaches
Peepers by PeeperSpecs Women's Shine On Blue Light Glasses
Amazon
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View On Peepers.com
Our Ratings
Why We Love It
These blue light glasses are stylish and made with recycled materials.
What to Consider
PeeperSpecs glasses might be durable, but they don’t come with a case.
Those who usually suffer from headaches when working full-time in front of a screen will find that these do exactly what blue light glasses are supposed to do: They completely relieve and prevent headaches. They fit very snugly on the face and don't slip due to a deep nose bridge. They look stylish, too, especially with this style’s shimmery finish. The biggest issue we had was that they didn’t come with a carrying case, which is a major downside for travelers. Though, a sunglasses case would suffice.
On the PeeperSpecs website, you’ll find many more styles and colors for both men and women. You can also use their augmented reality function to virtually see how they will look on your face before buying.
Price at time of publish: $29
The Details: 1.97 and 2.17 inches | No prescription option
Travel + Leisure / Sarah Felbin
Travel + Leisure / Sarah Felbin
Travel + Leisure / Sarah Felbin
The 10 Best Sunglasses for Men of 2023, Tested and Reviewed
Best Splurge
Felix Gray Jemison Blue Light Glasses
Felix Gray
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Our Ratings
Why We Love It
These glasses are chic and work for both men and women.
What to Consider
They’re pricey for blue light glasses, especially if you don’t need the prescription option.
If you know you love blue light glasses and want a quality product built to last, Felix Gray Jemisons are a solid investment. We wore these glasses for several eight-hour work days and didn't feel like they pinched or dug into the bridge of their nose whatsoever. They’re super clear and didn’t create a glare on Zoom calls, which can happen with other pairs of glasses. We also found them to be extremely durable and well-constructed, and appreciated that they came with a case and dust cloth. However, these glasses are definitely a splurge, with prices starting at $100 and going up from there.
Price at time of publish: $100
The Details: Wide | Prescription option
Travel + Leisure / Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm
Travel + Leisure / Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm
Best Retro
Caddis Hooper Blue Light Blockers
Caddis
View On Caddislife.com
View On Vertigohome.us
Our Ratings
Why We Love It
These glasses are clear and fashionable.
What to Consider
They only come in one size, but you can use the virtual try-on feature on Caddis’ website before you buy.
If you want to be the envy of the coworking space, office, or cafe, check out these retro blue light glasses from Caddis. They fit securely and didn’t cause any eye strain after hours of wear. They were also very clear despite a blue tint. Another great aspect was that they didn’t slip when you move your head quickly, so these could be especially great for people working with multiple monitors or who get up to move around often.
You can get these Caddis glasses in eye magnification between 1.00 and 4.00 and in four cute colors, including silver blue, gold yellow, gunmetal blue, and gold green. They’re also available for those with prescriptions for a higher price.
Price at time of publish: $140
The Details: One size
Best for Remote Workers
Readerest Blue Light Blocking Reading Glasses
Walmart
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Our Ratings
Why We Love It
These blue light glasses are good for most people and are available at a budget-conscious price.
What to Consider
Readerests don’t come with a carrying case and aren’t available in different sizes or prescriptions.
These Amazon-loved blue light glasses from Readerest are an easy and popular choice. They fit snugly and were easy to have on the face for long periods of time. They are also clear while performing tasks on laptops and phones, and they looked great during video calls. For those that need eye magnification, Readerest glasses come with more magnification options than most of the other glasses we reviewed.
One potential drawback is that these glasses don’t come with a carrying case — however, they are scratch-resistant. You may still want to invest in your own case, though.
Price at time of publish: $20
The Details: One size | No prescription option
Best for Small Faces
MVMT Everscroll Glasses at Amazon
MVMT
View On Amazon
Our Ratings
Why We Love It
They’re fairly priced and seem to be effective at blocking blue light.
What to Consider
The frames are a tad snug, so they might be better suited to someone with a smaller face.
While MVMT is largely known for its watches, the company’s blue light glasses are nothing to scoff at. They come in a few different colors (only on MVMT’s site), though not with a prescription. We were amazed at how much they reduced eye strain while working in front of a screen and we noticed the screen was clearer and crisper. However, they weren’t the most comfortable on larger faces.
Price at time of publish: $38
The Details: Medium and wide | No prescription option
Best Prescription
Warby Parker Thurston Glasses
Warby Parker
View On Warbyparker.com
Our Ratings
Why We Love It
We love Warby Parker’s policy of letting you try them at home and return them if they don’t fit.
What to Consider
These glasses are quite pricey, even if you purchase a nonprescription pair.
Warby Parker is a terrific brand when it comes to prescription eyewear, so it’s no wonder they make excellent blue light glasses. One of the best things about them is that you can order them to try on at home and then return them if you don’t like the look (or if they don’t work). They also come in nonprescription and reading options for a lower price, and can be upgraded to offer more blue light protection or automatically change to a darker tint while outdoors. The glasses are lightweight and very clear with no tint, though it took a few days of wearing to really see the impact.
Price at time of publish: $145
Sizes: Medium and wide | Prescription option
Best for Gaming
Gunnar Razer FPS
Amazon
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Our Ratings
Why We Love It
The yellow tint in these gaming glasses helps to reduce brightness and glare from staring at a screen for a long period of time.
What to Consider
They fit a little tight on the nose.
Tinted yellow, these glasses aren’t the best for Zoom meetings or office work. But if you’re a gamer sick of eye strain and screen-related headaches, you might want to check out this pair. We loved how the yellow tint dimmed down the brightness and glare while still remaining clear. We also liked the fit, though they did leave a nose mark after hours of wear. One issue we had was a slight distortion when they looked at an angle, so that’s something to keep in mind.
Gunnar also makes prescription options in single and progressive vision, and they come in a few different shapes.
Price at time of publish: $100
The Details: Narrow, medium, wide, youth small, youth large | Prescription option
Best Budget
LensDirect Emory Glasses
LensDirect
View On Lensdirect.com
Our Ratings
Why We Love It
These blue light glasses are especially great if you want a rim color beyond blue, gray, and black.
What to Consider
They’re pricey if you don’t need the prescription function.
If you’re looking for an affordable pair of prescription blue light glasses, LensDirect has you covered. You really can’t find better blue light glasses at this price and they come in a dozen different styles. We found them even clearer than other blue light glasses. We also found that the glasses fit well on most users.
Price at time of publish: $74
The Details: Medium and wide | Prescription option
Travel + Leisure / Karen Chen
The 22 Best Travel Tech Essentials of 2023
Best Transition Lens
EyeBuyDirect Escape Blue Light Glasses
EyeBuyDirect
View On Amazon
View On Eyebuydirect.com
Our Ratings
Why We Love It
They’ll switch from light to dark depending on whether you’re inside or outside.
What to Consider
They tend to slide down the nose if you’re looking down.
Sun lovers who prefer to work by the pool or on the patio will appreciate these transition lenses. For an additional fee, these blue light glasses can transition from clear to mid-light, mid-tint, and bright sun. We loved wearing them outside on their patio and inside, both while working on laptops and scrolling on phones. The glasses prevented eye strain for most — though not all — of the day. They also fit well, save for a little bit of slippage down the nose.
These glasses come in six different colorways and various different lenses, including prescription, reading, and sunglasses.
Price at time of publish: $54
The Details: Medium | Prescription option
The more time we spend staring at screens, whether at the office or at home, the more vulnerable we are to eye strain. You've probably already heard how blue light can hurt your eyes and affect your sleep, but you might not know all the ways to help reduce its impact on your health.
Below, we list a few blue-light-blocking glasses and software solutions that might alleviate eye strain, as well as explain some habits that can help. We also tell you which brands you should avoid.
4.0
$129.99
at GUNNAR
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Gunnar is known best for its blue-light-blocking computer glasses that target gamers. If you go to major video game events like PAX, you've probably seen a pair.
Gunnar offers a variety of frames and tint types, including the slight Clear lens that blocks 35% of blue light and doesn't tint other colors too much; the more intense Amber lens that blocks 65% of blue light; and even transition lenses that stay tinted indoors and get darker like sunglasses when you're outside. These glasses are available with or without a prescription. If you're farsighted, though, know that standard Gunnar glasses have a slight magnifying factor that can be a bit disorienting.
We've reviewed a few Gunnar glasses, and each pair we've tested has been well made, sturdy, and comfortable. They can be a bit pricey, especially if you get prescription lenses, but they're quality glasses.
Gunnar Lightning Bolt 360 Review
$250.00
at JINS
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Jins is a Japanese glasses company that makes a variety of blue-light-blocking lenses. There are two Jins Screen lens treatments: Jins Screen Daily Use and Jins Screen Heavy Use.
The regular Jins Screen Daily Use models feature a subtle tint, while Jins Screen Heavy Use glasses opt for a slightly stronger, greenish tint that blocks more blue light and is intended for heavy screen use. You can add either to most frames.
$145.00
at Warby Parker
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Warby Parker is one of the more popular fashion-focused glasses retailers because of its Home Try-On policy. You pick five frames online to try on at home, the company ships them to you, and you choose which ones to keep. The frames are made well and reasonably priced, plus support blue-light-filtering lenses. The coating is an extra $50, which puts most glasses at around $145 (or less if you have an eligible insurance plan). You can also get anti-fatigue lenses for $100 more, which add a slight magnification effect to the lower part of the lens. We can't speak to their effectiveness, however.
$6.95
at Zenni Optical
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Zenni is a glasses brand that lets you order inexpensive frames and lenses online. If you have your prescription, you can simply enter the numbers into a form, and your glasses will arrive a few weeks later. With prices starting at $7, I've sworn by Zenni for stocking up on backup glasses, though its pricier frames and lenses are generally pretty well-made, too.
Zenni offers Blokz, its own blue-light-blocking lens technology. Blokz lenses start at $17, so you can get prescription blue-light-blocking glasses for as little as $25.
$13.99
at Amazon
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You can get inexpensive blue-light-blocking glasses at Amazon and other retailers, though you won't have the benefit of prescription lenses. We also haven't reviewed any of these glasses, so we can't attest to their lens or frame quality. We have, however, noticed an interesting pattern: Lots of them are the same.
The glasses above appear to be identical to several of the glasses a few entries below them when you search for blue-light-blocking models on Amazon. We suspect most of these glasses come from the same factory and that the different brand names don't mean much. If you don't recognize the brand and the company doesn't appear to have a dedicated website, expect a generic experience.
Free for Personal Use
at f.lux
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You don't need glasses to reduce blue light on your screen. iPhones, Macs, PCs, and most Android phones have night modes that significantly warm up the white balance of the screen to reduce eye strain. On Windows 10 and 11, it's called Night Light, and on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS it's called Night Shift. You can set these modes to work on a schedule or based on sunrise and sunset times.
You can also use f.lux, free software for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows, which does the same job.
$48.00
at Amazon
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Ironically, the popular-in-drug-stores brand BluBlocker is not advisable for reducing blue light when staring at a screen.
BluBlockers are sunglasses, and their tints are too strong for comfortably looking at your monitor. If you use too strong a tint, you can strain your eyes in the other direction, forcing them to deal with too little light instead of too much.
On the most basic level, blue light is exactly what it sounds like: light that's blue. That's not the full picture, though, and this is where light and color theory comes into play, along with concepts like color temperature, Planck's Constant, and the black body radiation curve. Without going too far into the weeds, you simply need to understand one fact about light: The color white isn't universal.
There is no singular white, but rather a whole range of visible light that counts as white. Depending on the lighting conditions and what is radiating and reflecting light, white light can appear yellow (warm) or blue (cool) in color. For instance, the light that comes from an incandescent LED light bulb is warmer than the light that comes from a computer monitor. This effect is called color temperature and is measured in kelvin (K).
What we perceive as white light shifts along a range of about 2,700K to 7,000K. Confusingly, warmer light has a lower color temperature than cooler light, with the almost fiery glow of tungsten hitting around 2,800K and overcast sunlight hitting about 6,000K. Computer monitors typically set white at a cooler temperature to emulate natural sunlight, close to 6,500K. That means the light coming from your screen is quite blue; you can notice this difference if you compare a web page with a white background to a warm light bulb.
Blue light is often cited as the culprit for eye strain and even eye damage, so, naturally, the solution should be to warm up that light before it hits your eyes.
Here's where it gets tricky: Claims from the manufacturers of blue-light-blocking glasses don't necessarily hold up to medical scrutiny. Essentially, blue light can't directly damage your eyesight. The American Academy of Opthalmology (AAO) notes that ultraviolet radiation can damage eyes but that computer monitors and other screens don't emit that kind of radiation. The whites are cool, but they aren't harmful. In fact, the AAO doesn't recommend any special eyewear for computer use.
This doesn't mean you should ignore the effects of staring at a screen all day. While the radiation might not hurt your eyes, fixating on a powerful light source a few inches or a few feet from your eyes for long periods of time can cause eye strain. Your eyes can become dry, irritated, or blurry, and you can even get headaches after you've looked at screens for hours. Blue-light-blocking technology can help reduce that strain by making the light appear more soothing and less bright.
The AAO recommends the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, you should look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds to give your eyes a break. It's a good habit to get into, but it isn't always realistic, and it isn't the only thing you can do to help your eyes.
I sometimes get light-sensitive headaches, and I've found that tinted lenses can help reduce their frequency. For that, blue-light-blocking glasses are useful. They warm up the light by blocking out some wavelengths to give your eyes a rest. Their real value is relieving eye strain, not the promise of simply blocking blue light.
Shopping for glasses can be stressful. Luckily, we have a guide to sites that let you shop for frames and lenses at home. We note which services offer blue-light-filtering lenses, too.
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