Dear Dr. SerVaas:

I am interested in purchasing the BlueMax Lamp as advertised in your magazine. However, I remember a Medical Mailbox article about blue light and eye problems. Is the BlueMax Lamp a source of the same blue light that has been speculated as causing cataracts and macular changes?

Beth Baker
Chugwater, Wyoming

Test data provided by research scientist Mojtaba Navvab, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan show that routine use of the BlueMax Lamp poses no blue light hazard to the retina. Glancing at the light source is also not a concern: damage would result only in the improbable (if not impossible) scenario that a person focuses on the light source for three to 60 minutes at a distance of four to 16 inches, respectively.

Dr. Navvab--who conducts studies at UM's Enhanced Spectrum Lighting Laboratory on daylight, electric light, environmental control systems, and acoustics--is now investigating the safety of light therapy systems used to ease seasonal depression. Results are expected in late January.