Too much ultraviolet light exposure can be a problem for anyone. We’ve previously written about wearable UV-detecting wearables, including a study by University of Southern California research on the subject and MyUV, a wearable under development by LaRoche Posay. We also wrote about Netatmo’s June wrist wearable with UVA and UVB sensors.
People with lupus have a special concern about UV exposure. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and a wide variety of symptoms, according to Healthline. Too much sun exposure can bring on a “lupus flare,” where lupus symptoms such as exhaustion, weight loss, fever, and anemia can hit. Flares can occur for other reasons and sometimes seemingly at random, but ultraviolet exposure definitely can bring them on.
Designed to help lupus patients, Wearshade‘s Shade uses a silicon diode to measure UV exposure. Shade attaches anywhere on your clothing with a circular magnet clasp is placed under a garment to hold it securely in place. The sensor sends data via Bluetooth Low Energy wireless to the iOS Shade app, presently the only mobile device OS supported. The app also helps you know your daily limit with input in the device. Shade vibrates and sends a notification when you reach 20 percent threshold of your personal UV exposure limit. Battery life lasts approximately four days per charge.
Lupus patients can have greater control of their flares by taking the guesswork out of tracking daily exposure with Shade. According to Wearshade, Shade is 25 times more accurate than meters than only measure brightness or use GPS coordinate to report amounts by referring to weather data. People who don’t have lupus but want to keep their UV exposure under set limits can also use Shade.
