My eyes burn.
My eyes are tired.
My eyes are gritty.
I hear these 3 complaints several times a day. They are usually followed by a confession about the increased time spent on screens. Zoom calls, working from home, distance learning, all contribute to the increased time we spend staring at a glowing screen. Add our smartphone dependency and it’s no surprise that the majority of our waking hours are spent looking at some sort of device or screen. Is it any wonder eyes burn, get tired and feel gritty?
Start with Clear Vision
My first recommendation for reducing digital eyestrain is wearing the right prescription. Even small refractive errors cause eyestrain over time. The right glasses can alleviate many visual complaints. If you have any uncorrected astigmatism, farsightedness, presbyopia or anisometropia, your eyes will work harder than necessary. What do all those confusing words mean?
Astigmatism can effect how you see far away and also up close. The eye projects an image you’re looking at in 2 different places, the greater the astigmatism, the greater the distance between the 2 images and the more blur you experience.
Farsightedness or Hyperopia is when your eye has to accommodate more to focus on objects up close.
Presbyopia is age related, usually starting around 40 years old, the eye starts to lose its ability to focus on near targets. We often find ourselves pushing objects farther away or looking for brighter light to read small print.
Anisometropia is when there is a difference in refractive status in each eye. For example, one eye might be a little farsighted and the other eye has a little astigmatism. This prevents the eyes from working well together causing visual fatigue.
Correcting any refractive error will reduce unnecessary eyestrain.
Consider the position of your target. Are you working on duel monitors? Are they at the same distance? Elevated? Are you using a laptop? Tablet? The type of technology and the position will dictate the type of lens best suited for you. I can prescribe a single vision lens specific for a given working distance or a “near variable,” which is primarily for the computer but allows the user to see a phone or desktop papers too. Neither of these lenses are intended for looking into the distance or driving.
Digital eye strain meets Ocular Surface Disease
After properly correcting the vision for the task, let’s talk about the impact staring at a screen has on the eyes.
Think about the surface of your eye as a car windshield and your eyelids as the windshield wipers. Squirt a little wiper fluid (tears) on your windshield, you’ll need to wipe the windshield with your wipers (eyelid). Everything is so clear immediately after the wipe (blink). Unfortunately our blink rate decreases as we stare at screens. If the computers are elevated or even in our direct line of sight, the tears evaporate faster as the eyes are open wider to look upwards.
If you also suffer from poor tear quality, you will need more blinks to keep your vision clear. Poor tear quality can usually be attributed to clogged meibomian glands and inflammation of the eyelids. This causes a change in the tears which creates a soap-like substance to sit on the eyelid margins and is responsible for the burning sensation felt as the day wears on. The combination of decrease blink rate and poor tear quality can make the eyes red and tired. Fortunately, clogged meibomian glands can be managed with home and office treatments.
You don’t have to suffer, schedule an appointment for an eye exam. 707-762-8643