UV lighting

[Panther678]

The main risks associated with UV-producing light bulbs are cellular damage to skin (sunburn and related effects) and eyes (photo-kerato conjunctivitis).
Found this online about uv lighting is this true.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

The main risks associated with UV-producing light bulbs are cellular damage to skin (sunburn and related effects) and eyes (photo-kerato conjunctivitis).
Found this online about uv lighting is this true.

Yes, but there are mitigating factors and some prudent common sense.

1. Most artificial UVB is nowhere near as strong as direct sunlight—especially that used for chameleons
2. UVB won't pass through glass or some plastics
3. The UVB lamps used with reptiles have a limited range, but it's good to know what that range is
4. Don't look directly at the light when working in or near the enclosure without a barrier (just as you wouldn't look directly at the sun).
5. The limited time you are working in the enclosure shouldn't be significant—not like hours in direct sunlight.

When I work with my enclosures, I generally turn the UVB off for that short time—no harm to any reptile. If the UVB lamp needs to be on, I wear sunglasses that block UV. The plant lights are bright enough to work by. These precautions may be unnecessary, and I doubt if many others take them, but I do—my eyes are failing with age as it is.

 

[nightanole]

To dig a bit deeper. florcent bulbs have phosphors. You put in a red/green/blue phosphor in a bulb, and your brain interprets the "light" as "white". But its not really "full spectrum", its just zero light with huge spikes at red green blue. Full spectrum reptile UVB lights have 6-7 phosphors. So they have orange etc. The also have 1 UVB phosphor. This is tuned for the UVB section of max bone growth (D3) and also bleeds over into the UVA spectrum.

Now your issues come into play when the UVB phosphor is not tuned correctly. We had some CFLs well over a decade ago get the formula wrong. They produced the correct amount of UVB according to most meters. However instead of bleeding into the UVA, it bled into the deep UVB and UVC range. This is what caused the eye and skin damage. SInce what is UVC used for? Its used to destroy organic molecules for killing viruses and bacteria on surfaces. And eye ball lenses can not focus or block it, so just goes straight in unfiltered.