It looks like Sony may have been a little harsh on its much vaunted stereoscopic 3D when it recently warned of a series of potential side-effects, including fatigue, nausea and eye strain.
More worrying than these short term physical affects however, are concerns that playing games or watching movies in 3D can cause long term eye damage. One of the USA’s most respected ophthalmologists, Dr. Mark Borchert, has however told Gamasutra that stereoscopic 3D is unlikely “to cause any permanent harm to vision.”
“There are people who get uncomfortable with it, and get eye strain or headaches, or on much rarer occasions, a sense of imbalance or nausea, but there’s no evidence it can cause permanent harm to your vision or use of both eyes together or anything like that.”
Borchert seems to think that our eyes are safe from 3D, however, he is not as confident about the effects that the new tech may have on children. This supports Nintendo America big cheese Reggie Fils-Aime’s recent warning that children under the age of nine should avoid 3D images. In doing so, Nintendo is removing a large portion of what would have been the target market for the 3DS.
According to Borchert, who works at a children’s hospital, “children are not born with the ability to use both eyes together, they do not have any true binocularity at birth, and they certainly do not have stereoscopic vision. It is possible that 3D could harm developing eye muscles.”
So if you’re reading this, then you’re probably fine, although your kids may not be. Many who have experienced 3D have commented that the squinting often associated with it can’t be good for the eyes. Borchert assures us however, that such squinting is definitely not capable of causing any long-term damage.
