Some suggestions for: screen time induced dry eyes
• Artificial Tears- Try keep artificial tears near your working environment. Preservative free (PF) tears are very safe. There is no indication suggesting that one could use too many drops of PF tears. Use as often as needed, even if every hour. Vision and comfort will likely improve, but a downside may be that the improvement is short lived. There are many kinds of preserved and non-preserved tears on the market today. It is generally safer to start with preservative free first. Your eye care professional can confirm which tears (or combinations) are best for you after evaluating your eyes’ blinking rate, tear production, lid margins, oil gland function, and corneal surface quality. • Blue light absorbing antireflective coating- A customized computer prescription or occupational prescription with this coating are recommended. Blocking glare and blue light, as mentioned above, can decrease symptoms of ocular fatigue. This may be more subjective - but when your eyes are exposed for many hours at a time, even the smallest amount of unwanted dry eye or computer fatigue symptoms tend to eventually build to an unavoidable and undesirable level of discomfort.
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• Prescription Therapy- There are several FDA approved ocular prescriptions (topically administered) indicated for either signs and/or symptoms of dry eye or signs of KCS. Whether one of these drops, or combinations, would improve the signs or symptoms — or both — can sometimes take weeks. Compliance is crucial to determine the most effective and appropriate management for each patient’s specific dry eye diagnosis. • Hot Compresses- Warm to hot compresses (if indicated by your eyecare professional) will assist the lids in their major role in oil release after blinking. Well over half of dry eye diagnosis are related the loss of the oily layer over time. The oil layer is crucial in keeping the layers of tear film in place. Like oil in water, it remains on the outside. No oil means evaporation of the layers underneath, and ultimately a burning, watery and sensitive cornea. Untreated, this inflammatory cycle will worsen in magnitude and become exhausting for anyone depending on the use of screens to be productive.) If these symptoms sound familiar, I recommend seeing an eye care professional for a thorough evaluation.
There are several therapeutical interventions we know of and it continues to evolve. We know technology progresses — it looks like, at least for now, we’ll be using screens for a long time, certainly not less.
