Computer Vision Syndrome
Computer Vision Syndrome symptoms can be divided into three categories.
- Eye-related symptoms like dry, teary and irritated eyes.
- Vision-related symptoms like blurry vision, eye strain, eye fatigue, and headaches.
- Posture-related symptoms like sore neck, shoulders and back.
A few recent studies found that Vision-Related symptoms were the most commonly reported with eye-strain right at the top. Secondly was Eye-Related symptoms and this was mainly due to dry eyes.
The eye blinking process reduces by 60% when using a computer for long durations of time. A small font size and a bad contrast between the letters and the background reduces the blink rate even more. These factors cause poor tear production and increase the stress on the cornea, worsening the feeling of dry eyes. The effects are worse for elderly and contact lens users.
It is also reported that there is an increased risk for Myopia with the excessive use of electronic devices like smartphones and computers.
What To Do?
It is not that easy to just stop using computers or digital devices like that. Different people with different symptoms require different treatment option.
These are a few ways to reduce Computer Vision Syndrome symptoms.
Lighting: Light should not be too bright and should not reflect from the screen into the eyes
Positioning: Poor postural positioning lead to pain in the back, neck and shoulders. The computer screen should be 80 – 100cm from the viewer. The screen should also be at a 10-20º viewing angle downwards.
Quick breaks: Breaks from work regularly accompanied by short walks around the office, helps to relax the muscles as well as the eyes.Eye drops: Lubricating eye drops can relieve the dry eyes when working on screens.
Computer Spectacles: Patients working for more than 2 hours at a time can benefit from reading spectacles. New blue filter or blue coating lenses even reduce the short blue wavelength light from entering our eyes.