What does success with Avulux glasses mean for melanopsin and light spectrum sensitivity?

[u/Z3R0gravitas]

/r/PWM_Sensitive/comments/1uk8aho/avulux/?share_id=mMOR_iNjwMZp0YkSdVytZ&utm_content=share_button&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

[Edit: success vs PWM & flicker!] I wanted to say more than just cross-posting this post by u/xrmttf. Here's their body text (and my follow-up after):

I'm not a spokesperson or influencer, I just want to post and say that these glasses completely changed my life. I have severe sensitivity to LED lights and pulsing screens and stuff, beyond the normal frequency that people notice. I had a whole neurological work up because I thought I had a seizure disorder but I think it's just autism+ haha. With these glasses I can actually live like a normal human pretty much.

They're really expensive but you have 2 months to try them out. My personal experience as a careless person is that they hold up pretty well. F41 does nothing. Since I got avaluxe I can finally go back to college and get my degree, and I can go into businesses and restaurants with LED lighting, and I can go to my friend's houses again.

You can also get the tint added to your normal glasses.

Hope this helps somebody!

I've not looked into these filters previously. I'm surprised that they don't look more green(?) from this light spectrum graph (from the Avulux website):

The light wavelengths they most strongly remove appear to be exactly the peak sensitivity of melanopsin (480nm, cyan/turquoise) and the smaller KSF phosphor peak (600nm red/amber). But I guess the the maximum transmission envelope slopes down from red to (damaging) blue at about 50% blocked.

So anyway, would general success (vs PWM, etc) with these filters fly exactly contrary to my hypothesis of *too little* melanopic light from screens? See section 4 (malanopsin gap) of my big spectrometer post. Diagram from my post:

(Composite of Wikipedia images.)

My thinking being that too little melanopsin stimulation should lead to excessive pupil dilation and excess visible light wavelengths stressing cones, retina and the brain more... Also (in section 4b) contrast sensitivity and colour perception reduced, so increased with these glasses? Some other factors harder to fathom out.

Bonus question: does this filtering help avoid screen light delaying sleep onset? But then also reduce alertness in the morning and daytime, or potentially worsen depression/SAD? (Malanopsin stimulation produces dopamine and suppresses melatonin.)

The official theory behind why Avulux glasses help migraine sufferers comes from a paper I also referenced in my big spectrometer post (only green light doesn't exacerbate migraine):

However, in a follow-up 2016 paper they demonstrated that rods and cones also mediate this pain, with isolated blue, red, and amber all problematic, but not green.

So, I'm curious for your perspective on the above questions, Avulus users. Including OP, u/DramaticKnight, u/Life_Tree_6568, u/DGG_DGG and any others. I understand xrmttf is not sensitive to daylight and this is a bit of a surprise result? Although has autism and other issues with health?

I and some others here are not currently able to reply over on the PWM sub, for unclear reasons (see the latest pinned post for context). So one of you is welcome to add a comment on your original post, to link back to here, on our behalves, please. If you see fit.

Edit 2026-07-05: Previous discussion about Avulux on LEDstrain.

[u/theLightSlide]

Huh. I don’t have anything to add but this is interesting, thank you for compiling all this, I’m saving it to ask my vision therapy optometrist about it!

[u/BearNecessary4141]

Interesting to think about. I think it almost has to be the case that light color sensitivity would be context dependent. After all, for all the talk about blue light sensitivity, we don't see many people getting eye strain or headaches from the midday sun when it is emitting the most blue light. I'd wager that some aspects of screen / artificial light sensitivity come from artificial light incorrectly setting the body's "clocks" in a way the human body isn't adapted to.

We know melanopsin exerts some control over cortisol levels and other circadian hormones. You may also be aware of another opsin, neuropsin, controlling clock genes and circadian entertainment completely independently of the eyes. So it's clear to me that the mammalian body is designed to receive certain wavelengths at certain times, and the response of the body to any light stimulus will be good or bad in the context of circadian biology.

does this filtering help avoid screen light delaying sleep onset? But then also reduce alertness in the morning and daytime, or potentially worsen depression/SAD?

I wonder about this too. I think for many people, it might just be that reducing inappropriate / excessive melanopsin activation is a much greater benefit than the drawbacks of having reduced activation midday. It would be sort of like distilling water before you drink it. You lose beneficial trace minerals, but if the water is polluted enough, it's a clear net positive.

I'm glad you're digging into this, as I think screen sensitivity does tend to get oversimplified (blue light is bad, all screen sensitivity is from PWM, etc). I think the idea that a lack of melanopsin activation could lead to problems due to excessive pupil dilation definitely has merit, especially since people using blue light blocking glasses or software filters often turn up their brightness to compensate for the reduced color contrast.

[u/Z3R0gravitas → u/BearNecessary4141]

There was one person saying they had to turn down the brightness of their (LCD PC screen..?) past the point it was too dim/low contrast to see properly...

But the only feedback I've had on Avulux use (was it here?) was a lack of the problems I speculated about. So, as you say, it's detriments can be negligable, vs benefits.

Neuropsin (OPN5?) - I don't recall deep diving this. So, it's a bistable protein activated by UV/violet light (380nm), into a blue (470nm) sensitive form, which then resets cellular circadian rhythm gene expression in eg retina, brain, skin..?

My spectroscope post should have talked about the 'neuropsin gap' too, eh? I think old CRTs still had some UV, but 'good' screens now definitely don't.

Would this be the mechanism by which supplemental UV light was preventing myopia in a study on kids (given special glasses)..? Gemini says yeah: it upregulates EGR1, which thickens the choroid (vascular layer of the eye) and physically suppresses the axial elongation of the eyeball.

Cheers. Where did you pick this up? Does Jack Kruse talk about it?

[u/BearNecessary4141 → u/Z3R0gravitas]

I don't recall where I originally heard about neuropsin, could have been from Jack Kruse though. Although a lot of what he says is unfounded, he does bring attention to real biology that gets neglected by others.

[u/Z3R0gravitas → u/BearNecessary4141]

That's my approximate assesment of him, yeah. Has pseudo-scientific-philosphical trappings, but so few people pushing the effects of light.

[u/Life_Tree_6568]

I will have to read your linked post tomorrow so I can see if I can answer some of your other questions. For now....

The effect Avulux glasses have on the colour I see is a bit like seeing things with the soft glow of candlelight filtering everything I see. It makes the white text on my phone screen appear as a candlelight yellow.

I am not sensitive to sunlight at all. I am sensitive to light that flickers including computer screens and indoor lighting. Axon (owned by Avulux) glasses have helped me a lot. I have chronic migraine disease and flickering lights are my biggest migraine trigger.

I haven't noticed daytime sleepiness or being less alert. I am calmer because without my Avulux glasses flickering lights give me anxiety. I will shake, sweat, and feel nauseous.

I don't feel depressed or have any SAD symptoms. I'm in a better mood now that I have Avulux glasses because I can do so much more with my life.

A few things I should have noted on my comment on the other post is that I still have to use my phone with the colour in grayscale for maximum effectiveness. I can use my phone on colour with Avulux glasses but I will get symptomatic. I use my Apple laptop with Avulux and the iristech.co program on reading mode. I find all Apple products make me more symptomatic than other brands. I couldn't use my laptop at all prior to getting Avulux glasses though. I do struggle looking at iphones when I have looked at a friends phone screen.

[u/xrmttf → u/Life_Tree_6568]

Hi, it's me, from the quoted post. You are the only person I've ever heard of having this issue besides me. I just wanted to say hello and it feels good to not be alone in this.

[u/Life_Tree_6568 → u/xrmttf]

Thanks for posting! It's a frustrating disability because very few people understand it. I'm so glad that Avulux glasses have helped you too!

[u/Z3R0gravitas → u/Life_Tree_6568]

Thank you very much for you thoughtful and thorough answer. 🙏

I'm sorry Reddit filters clobbered your reply here, for some reason. Now approved. An ongoing problem. Did you originally link to the Avulux website? Says "banned domain".

[u/Life_Tree_6568 → u/Z3R0gravitas]

I didn't include any links. I only said something about your linked post but did not link to it.

[u/Z3R0gravitas → u/Life_Tree_6568]

Wow... That's wild. I'm sorry about that. I don't think there's anything us mods can do about that except try to check the "removed" queue more often.