Neonatal intensive and special care units fit the Blackstone neonatal eye shade when a baby starts phototherapy for jaundice under an overhead light. Before the light goes on, the baby's eyes are closed, the dark blue pads are placed over them with the narrow centre over the bridge of the nose, and the soft band is taken around the head. The nostrils stay clear below the pads, and the light is then switched on with the eyes covered. The shade stays on for as long as the light does.
Postnatal and paediatric wards use the eyeshade wherever phototherapy light shines down at the cot side, whether it comes from an overhead unit, a lamp over an incubator or a radiant warmer with its own treatment lights. Because the shade works independently of the light source, one design serves each light on the ward.
During treatment, staff check the shade's position whenever the baby is handled, and adjust it if it has moved toward an eye or the nose. The dark pads make that easy to judge at a glance, even through a cot or incubator wall. For feeds, cuddles, and skin-to-skin time, the shade comes off when the light is paused so that parents can see their baby's eyes, and it goes back on before phototherapy restarts.
The eyeshade has no electrical parts and nothing to set up, so it adds no equipment to the bedspace. It is made for newborns and is used only while phototherapy runs.
Older children and adults, and babies not receiving phototherapy, need other eye protection or none.