Nursery lights cleared of blindness suspicions
Despite what you have heard, lights in hospital nurseries do not pose a threat to the eyesight of premature babies, according to a new study of hundreds of premature infants in New York and Texas.
For years a condition known as retinopathy of prematurity has been a leading cause of blindness in children, and suspicions have been directed at nursery lights. It appears during the development of the retina, the wall of light-sensitive cells at the back of each eye.
James D. Reynolds, MD, of the State University of New York at Buffalo led a team that gave 205 premature infants special goggles that screened out 97% of the light going into the eyes. Another 204 premature children were exposed to regular nursery lighting.
Wearing goggles made no difference
When the goggles were removed - four weeks after birth or 31 weeks after conception, whichever was longer - researchers found that 102 babies who had worn the goggles had some degree of retinopathy of prematurity, compared to 100 infants who were in the group exposed to standard lighting.
The idea that too much light could increase the risk of blindness comes from earlier research showing that high levels of oxygen cause blindness in premature infants by generating charged particles in the retina. Bright lights were suspected light can also generate the charged particles.
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