--- title: Lights Are Brighter Than Ever. Is That Bad for Your Eyes? description: If you're sensitive to bright artificial lights, take these precautions to protect your vision. canonical: https://time.com/7305954/bright-lights-hurt-bad-for-eyes/ author: Matt Fuchs article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-08-04T18:26:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T01:32:18.452Z article:section: Health og:title: Lights Are Brighter Than Ever. Is That Bad for Your Eyes? og:description: If you're sensitive to bright artificial lights, take these precautions to protect your vision. og:url: https://time.com/7305954/bright-lights-hurt-bad-for-eyes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1eb167c8eb0bfa3f/6998c8b025f3eec1df644e09/Lights-are-Brighter-Than-Ever.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Lights are Brighter Than Ever og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lights Are Brighter Than Ever. Is That Bad for Your Eyes? twitter:description: If you're sensitive to bright artificial lights, take these precautions to protect your vision. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1eb167c8eb0bfa3f/6998c8b025f3eec1df644e09/Lights-are-Brighter-Than-Ever.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lights Are Brighter Than Ever. Is That Bad for Your Eyes? by [Matt Fuchs](https://time.com/author/matt-fuchs/) ## Matt Fuchs Matt Fuchs writes about science, health, aging, and well-being. His Substack is Prime Factors and he is a 2026-2027 Knight-Wallace Fellow. Aug 4, 2025 6:26 PM UTC  A car at night with headlights on. A car at night with headlights on.rasevicdusan/Getty Images by [Matt Fuchs](https://time.com/author/matt-fuchs/) ## Matt Fuchs Matt Fuchs writes about science, health, aging, and well-being. His Substack is Prime Factors and he is a 2026-2027 Knight-Wallace Fellow. Aug 4, 2025 6:26 PM UTC A few years back, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez started noticing the extreme brightness of car headlights in rural Washington, where she lives—and felt bombarded. “You come around a curve and get these headlights smack in your face,” she says. “They make you lose reaction time. It’s a real safety risk.” As a U.S. Representative, she’s [working](https://x.com/RepMGP/status/1925241813352202334) to change federal regulations to limit how bright headlights can be. Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez—who is also co-founder of an auto repair shop in addition to her political service—points out that even though vehicle safety has improved in the past decade, total road fatalities [have gone up](https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/nhtsa-2023-traffic-fatalities-2024-estimates). Deadly accidents occur [disproportionately at night](https://www.cdc.gov/teen-drivers/risk-factors/index.html), as headlight brightness has increased. It’s not just headlights. Our eyes are increasingly assailed by ultra-bright billboard ads, dazzling street lights, and glowing personal screens. The resulting glare could affect long-term vision. “High-intensity lights are potentially harmful because they concentrate so much brightness into a small area,” says Jacqueline Bowen, president of the American Optometric Association. Here’s what experts think about the risks of bright artificial lights and how to protect your eyes. ## Bright new world LED lights have turned up the brightness on our environments. Compared to previous technologies, LEDs shine a more [focused, directed beam](https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/led-lighting) and pack particularly intense blue light: the high-energy wavelength found in natural daylight. Invented in the 1960s, LEDs weren’t embraced until the ‘90s, when engineers developed [more efficient, longer-lasting versions](https://www.iup.edu/energymanagement/howto/led-lighting-benefits.html). Since then, LEDs have been [widely adopted](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=51858), enhancing visibility and even [productivity](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7579128/). But they’re also [blamed](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq7781) for [global light pollution](https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/article/how-to-dim-the-consequences-of-global-light-pollution/), visible even from the International Space Station. Here on Earth, the additional blue light is giving rise to complaints. LED headlights are [especially bothersome](https://www.theringer.com/2024/12/03/tech/headlight-brightness-cars-accidents). Gluesenkamp Perez recently conducted a poll in which nearly 70% of her constituents and followers said they’re too bright. Among personal vehicles manufactured in 2023, about 3 in 4 have LED headlights, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) told TIME. Laptops, tablets, and other screens are a more insidious but constant source of LED light. Remember mom telling you not to stare at light bulbs? Well, “a screen is just a flat, square light bulb,” Bowen explains, and about one-third of us stare at such screens for [more than seven hours](https://www.aoa.org/about-the-aoa/press-room/press-releases/new-report-reveals-cost-of-unmanaged-screen-time-symptoms-to-be-151-billion-per-year) per day. ## Blinded by the light This intense light could be harming eye health. We just don’t know the extent of the problem. People born after the early 2000s are unwitting participants in a natural experiment testing how their eyes will persevere over a lifetime of bright-light exposure, experts say. Even fireworks seem brighter lately. Watching the nighttime show at the famous Rocky Steps in Philadelphia this past July 4th, Dr. Joshua Dunaeif was one of few in the crowd wearing sunglasses. Although not LEDs, “some fireworks are incredibly bright,” he says. An ophthalmology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Dunaief knows too much about the risks to leave his shades at home. “Excessive light can damage the retina,” the light-sensing tissue at the back of the eye, Dunaief says. **Read More**: [_10 Symptoms ER Doctors Say to Never Ignore_](https://time.com/7307026/when-to-go-emergency-room-symptoms/) An extreme example is glare from the sun. Looking at it too long can create a permanent blind spot. Modern technologies—like fireworks, headlights, and personal screens—are far less intense than sunlight, but cumulative exposures could be harmful over time, Dunaief says. Researchers, however, haven’t been able to calculate these lifetime exposures. If constant bright lights are slowly damaging our eyes, they might fuel more cases of age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, which already [affects 11 million](https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/eye-conditions-and-diseases/age-related-macular-degeneration) Americans. They could also contribute to cataracts and eye sunburns called photokeratitis. Eye color plays a role in one’s susceptibility. Because blue and green eyes have less pigment, they transmit more light to the retinas, meaning [higher risk](https://www.dukehealth.org/blog/myth-or-fact-people-light-eyes-are-more-sensitive-sunlight) of damage, on average, than darker-colored eyes, Dunaief says. ## Driver safety People with certain eye conditions are more impacted by bright light. Especially in people with such disorders, bright LEDs can contribute to eye pain and traffic accidents when driving at night. LED headlights produce significant glare, which makes it tough to distinguish one object from another, called contrast sensitivity. “You might miss objects you’d normally see if there were no headlights or dimmer headlights,” says Cynthia Owsley, who studies the impact of aging on vision at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Headlights may also cause bleaching, where the blast of light overwhelms the retina’s neurons. They have to reset before sensing light again. “It’s very uncomfortable and makes it hard to see for several seconds,” Dunaief says. Bright light tends to affect older people more. Those with AMD, especially, might see okay during the day, but at night, they may take longer to recover from flashes of light, Owsley says. This interferes with [pedestrians’ vision](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00164/full), too. As Owsley has grown older and developed an eye condition, she avoids night driving due to such visibility problems. The risk and harms of AMD [increase](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8348883/) after age 65, but bright lights afflict younger people, too. One explanation is [dry eye](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470411/), where the eye’s tear layer becomes uneven, scattering light for more glare. “It’s like having a dirty windshield,” which worsens glare similarly, Bowen says. **Read More**: [_Battling Dry Eyes? Here’s What Actually Helps_](https://time.com/7303678/dry-eyes-causes-treatments/) Middle-age is commonly when people get chronic dry eye, but some autoimmune diseases like [Sjögren’s ](https://www.bostonsight.org/5-common-eye-problems-associated-with-sjogrens-syndrome/)[syndrome](https://www.bostonsight.org/5-common-eye-problems-associated-with-sjogrens-syndrome/) cause it in younger people. Too much screen time is another culprit. When fixated on screens, our blink reflex is [suppressed](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3230735/). “It’s shocking how much tear gland loss is evident in teenagers,” Bowen says. The condition [may degrade](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7672346/) long-term vision, she adds. One fix—in addition to reducing screen time—is simply reminding yourself to blink more. You can also use [rewetting drops](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9840372/) (as long as they’re preservative-free), but such drops provide very temporary relief, Dunaief says. What’s tricky is that people with dry eye often don’t feel the dryness, Bowen adds. So if you notice bright lights hurting your eyes at night, this could be your sole wakeup call to schedule an appointment with an eye doctor to check if a condition like dry eye explains it. “Much of this comes down to individual differences,” Owsley says. “Some people are just very photosensitive. But if I were young and having trouble driving at night, I would definitely see an ophthalmologist.” ## Protect your eyes from bright light For eye health, “the best strategy is prevention,” Owsley says. “Even in your 40s, you should have routine comprehensive eye exams” with an ophthalmologist or optometrist. If an issue is identified, they can start treating it. Nutrition can also help. NIH researchers [found](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-confirms-benefit-supplements-slowing-age-related-macular-degeneration) that two antioxidants, lutein and zeaxanthin, lower the risk of AMD. They’re abundant in green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale, as well as yellow and orange peppers. Limit sources of blue light at night (which can also [disrupt sleep](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935120308379)). If you’re viewing screens, Dunaief recommends using [software programs like F.lux](https://justgetflux.com/) to minimize blue light and brightness. When on the road, look at your own lane instead of oncoming traffic. Dunaief tries to look slightly to the right of his lane. Eye tracking [research](https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/811043.pdf) suggests the novelty of very bright headlights attracts people to gaze right at them. This increases glare exposure and recovery time, says Matthew Brumbelow, principal research engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. **Read More**: [_The Surprising Health Benefits of Spicy Food_](https://time.com/7294645/health-benefits-spicy-food/) You might also aim for a preemptive strike: some evidence suggests that drivers of newer vehicles with bright headlights get into fewer crashes related to glare. “Laboratory experiments suggest the more driver visibility, the less you’re affected by glare from other sources,” Brumbelow says. In 2022, NHTSA [finalized a rule](https://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2022/02/17/nhtsa-ruling-to-allow-oem-adaptive-headlights-likely-means-more-complex-repairs/) to allow a new LED headlight, called adaptive driving beams, that block portions of the beam to “ensure they do not glare other drivers” while maintaining visibility, according to NHTSA. Brumbelow says they’re promising, yet few U.S. manufacturers have added these headlights because regulations make it difficult. Europe has permitted them for [more than a decade](https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/812174%5Flightingadb.pdf). In the meantime, to help ensure your own bright headlights don’t cause an accident, maintenance is key, says Gluesenkamp Perez. “Older LEDs can start to flicker and strobe—another risk for more glare,” she says. More data on LED headlights and driver safety are needed. Brumbelow has [found](https://www.iihs.org/research-areas/bibliography/ref/2239) that cars with headlights rated highly by IIHS for visibility—which includes many but not all LED headlights—have 19% fewer nighttime crashes compared to cars with poor headlight visibility. It’s harder to track glare-caused accidents, but the rates seem very low, according to Brumbelow. “When glare is a factor, the drivers are more likely to be older,” he adds. Older people might benefit from eyelid surgery—drooping eyelids reflect bright light directly into the eyes. Dr. Charles Herman, a plastic surgeon in private practice near Philadelphia, says a major reason people visit him for eyelid surgery is complaints about glare from bright lights. (Ironically, he’s also [studied](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7305019/) how bright lights in the operating room harm surgeons’ eyes.) People of all ages could consider getting night driving glasses, which reduce blue light and glare—but protect the lenses. If scratched or smeared, they create moreglare, as does your windshield, Bowen says. On July 17, Gluesenkamp Perez’s [legislation](https://appropriations.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-appropriations.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/fy26-thud-perez-1.pdf) to further study the impact of headlight brightness [advanced in the House](https://gluesenkampperez.house.gov/posts/gluesenkamp-perezs-amendment-passes-house-appropriations-committee-to-investigate-overly-bright-headlights). Until we learn more from such research, eat your dark leafy vegetables, see an eye doctor, and don’t forget to blink. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7305954/bright-lights-hurt-bad-for-eyes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7305954/bright-lights-hurt-bad-for-eyes/"},"headline":"Lights Are Brighter Than Ever. 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