A few days ago the population of China woke up with a story that triggered all the alarms: a three-month-old baby had stayed one eye blind and with serious vision problems in the other because a relative took a picture with the flash activated.
Apparently, he approached the baby to take a close-up photo with his cell phone and forgot to deactivate the flash. After taking the picture, the boy began to cry and the parents decided to take him to the hospital, where they found the diagnosis. The doubt is: Can a three-month-old baby go blind for taking a flash photo?
And when we ask three months, obviously, we extend the question to all babies, have three months, have three days.
According to the Daily Mail, yes
In the Daily Mail they explain the news and affirm that when the parents went to the hospital the doctors explained that the strong flash light had damaged retinal cells, which is the part of the eye where the incoming rays of light center to form the image.
In addition, they added that, although babies tend to close their eyes when an intense light bothers them, parents have to be very careful with the intense lights both when taking photos as in the bathroom and other times of the day.
According to experts, no
I can imagine all the inhabitants of China turning off the flash of their cameras when there are babies nearby, afraid to go blindly leaving babies unintentionally. The reality is that it seems very, very unlikely, that the news is true. Well, it seems impossible, rather.
I mean, yes, I'm sure the baby has those vision problems, but the mobile flash may not have been the cause, experts say, and consequently everything indicates that the baby already had those problems previously.
Following this story, Yahoo Parenting interviewed Dr. Alex Levin, head of pediatric ophthalmology and ocular genetics at Wills Eye Hospital from Philadelphia, which said the following:
If this story were true there would be a lot of blind babies out there. We operate small babies with very bright lights on the most sensitive parts of their eyes for at least 30 minutes at a time, and this does not cause blindness. The retina is made to last and it is very unlikely that this type of light can cause damage.
Also, in reference to the camera's flashes, he adds (to reassure everyone who takes flash photos):
Attributing blindness to taking a picture is a mistake. There is no way that a camera can cause such damage because the flashes diffuse the light, so they are harmless.
Different is if we talk about a laser pointer, which concentrates the light in a single point and it can be harmful. As soon as to the sun, explains the same thing, that for looking at a moment nothing happens to us, but that it is dangerous if we look at it constantly, something that a baby will never do, because the light will bother him and he will turn away or close his eyes.
If we keep investigating about it, in the blog Prevent Blindness we can read the Dr. Livia Romero, Ophthalmologist-pediatrician Coordinator of the Venezuelan Group of Pediatric Ophthalmology that states the following:
During the first year of life it is the critical moment of the visual development of every newborn, so any negative influence will prevent visual gain (however) the flash light is not harmful to the vision of a baby because it does not have a Wavelength so strong, it is intermittent and a child is not subjected to it continuously.
Googleando a little we can get to "Canonistas", the Canon camera owners forum, where an ophthalmologist (does not say it, but it follows from his words), states the following:
The flash light does not harm the eyes of a baby. This is one of those absurd hoaxes that circulate without any foundation ... A flash can generate a very short flash of a light intensity of about 2000 lux. The indirect ophthalmoscopes with which we see the retina to premature children to know if they suffer from retinopathy of prematurity generate lighting levels as well as five times greater than a photographic flash and we can also take a couple of minutes watching the baby's retina with that light , which I assure you, does not harm them. And if that is not worth it, the lights of the operating room of a delivery room can emit around 25,000 lux, and I assure you that they do not harm the baby either.
Finally, we only have apply common sense. I quote the second paragraph of this same entry, my own words:
Apparently, he approached the baby to take a close-up picture with the mobile and forgot to disable the flash.
Mobile? Have we read mobile? By God, one or two LED lights unable to illuminate a room to take a decent picture and say it was the cause of a baby's blindness? It is a disgrace that this baby is blind in one eye and just sees with the other, but the photo of that relative, who is sure to be having a terrible time of remorse, was just the casual moment that caused the parents to go to the hospital, where they diagnosed what the baby had been suffering for a while, probably from birth.
So when you want to take the picture of your baby or another baby, you don't suffer if the flash is activated because you are not going to do any damage. Though, why not bother him too much, better remove it. Nobody likes to be hit with the flash all over their eyes, right?
Photos | iStock, DailyMail
In Babies and more | How does a newborn see you? (and how far he recognizes you), Newborn care: how to clean the baby's eyes, Eye problems in babies
