PPT Uses Melanin as a Paradigm for Developing Blue Light Filtration in Multiple Industries

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 3, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- It is now widely known that sunlight damage to the eye increases strongly for the shorter, higher energy visible (HEV) wavelengths - what the eye associates with violet and blue.

However, in the early 1980's, Photoprotective Technologies (PPT) introduced the idea of melanin-based sun lenses. Melanin, the body's own sunscreen, does filter more strongly the higher energy visible wavelengths.

Throughout the 1990's, PPT developed ground-breaking patents and technologies for incorporating organic melanin into the optical plastics used in today's sunglass lenses.

But the real test for a great sun lens should occur for people placed in extreme conditions where the sunlight is very intense. This is exactly what happened at the South Pole where expedition scientists experienced severe vision problems caused by the extreme glare.

The scientists were experiencing accelerated damage to their eyes (thickened, bloody eye vessels) and could work only a few hours outdoors in the blistering, bright sunlight that reflected from the mirror-like snow and ice. The damage was due not only to UV but also to HEV light. The scientists experimented with sunglasses with blue blocking lenses but could no longer discriminate colors emitted from their multi-colored instrumentation. Finally, they obtained lenses with melanin and surprisingly found that they could work comfortably and still see all of the instrumentation colors. All of their vision problems were eliminated within a week, allowing them to work a full day outdoors.

PPT has multiple patents and technologies inspired by melanin's light filtration properties. These include sunglasses that utilize fluorescence of red and near infrared light to repair vison photoreceptor cells, and a new skin care melanin modified to filter more of the blue light associated with damage, and transmit more of the red light associated with repair. PPT has also developed thin films with melanin to filter the blue light emitted from electronic devices.

SOURCE PhotoProtective Technologies