No specific social media causes a problem with the eyes. What professional ophthalmologists and optometrists say in conferences and research has become it is the amount of screen time that affects some but not all people’s eye health. In the digital age, many employees are required to use digital devices for many hours at work. At home, television, tablets, and computers all add to the screen time our eyes now deal with. Now, the good doctors of Houston LASIK must check if an issue is simply digital eyestrain or computer vision syndrome (CVS).
Digital Eyestrain
Digital eyestrain defines as a set of symptoms caused by prolonged use of digital screens. Digital screens include smartphones, e-readers, tablets, laptops, televisions, and computers. Digital screens commonly have screen glares or poor lighting. Sitting at the wrong distance or angle before a computer or device leads to digital eyestrain for some people. It manifests in different ways in people. The symptoms include dry eyes, eye fatigue, and sometimes headaches. Dry eyes defines as the moisture from tears becomes less and a discomfort or sensitivity to light happens. Eye fatigue symptoms include burning, itching, and eyes feeling tired. It occurs because the body blinks the eyes less often when looking at digital screens. Blinking and tears maintain the eyes and their vision.
Computer Vision Syndrome
Since the digital age of digital screens entered the workplace, some workers spend as much as seven hours daily looking at it. Computer Vision Syndrome is a digital eyestrain to the extreme. Eyes have to work hard to deal with the digital screen more so than the world about it. At this level of digital screening, an individual develops more severe symptoms, such as blurred vision and pain in the body. It develops because the print on a digital screen does not have sharp definitions in the outline due to pixels and how that is all formed. The contrast between print, backgrounds, and images is different from real-life elements. The eye constantly has to adapt to that, which adds demands to the visual system, which spends more energy on allowing the activity. If a person has any vision problem, correct or uncorrected, then they are more likely to experience strain.
How it is Diagnosed?
A comprehensive eye exam like Houston LASIK can discover the problem and how much digital screen time affects the eyes. It takes a patient being honest about their screen time first to help make an accurate diagnosis. Other factors will be considered, such as general health, medications taken, and whether it is a work or home environment in which one experiences the issue. Check any previous eye conditions a patient has had and then chat about any eye conditions discovered during the exam. Treatment of digital eye strain or computer vision syndrome remains individualized. After all, it was individual habits that caused it.
Healthy Eye Habits in the Digital Age
The good news is if you have digital eye strain or computer vision syndrome for hours of TikTok watching, it remains a temporary condition that can be resolved.
Ways to lessen digital eye strain are:
- Update eyeglasses and contact lenses for correct vision
- Consider coatings and tints on lenses that lessen eyestrain
- Contact lenses consider a coating
- Make sure lighting is adequate in the computer area and remove glares
- Computer setup should be optimal for viewing a monitor and adequate seating
- Make sure you blink and take breaks from the screen
Before having laser eye surgery, chat with the good doctors at the LASIK clinic about ways to make a healthy eye environment while working or playing with digital screens at home.
Since 2005, Houston LASIK has been providing surgical vision correction technologies to patients from the Greater Houston Area and all over the world. The center specializes in multiple premium technologies including LASIK, EVO ICL (Intraocular Collamer Lens), ASA (Advanced Surface Ablation), and RLE (Refractive Lens Exchange). Houston LASIK & Eye is well known for using state-of-the-art technology and personalized care to help patients see their best. Patients receive customized surgical solutions from a team of highly experienced and award-winning ophthalmologists and optometrists. For more information, visit www.houston-lasik.com or call 281-240-0478.
Sources
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9434525/
- https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2024/01/is-too-much-screen-time-bad-for-our-eyes-
- https://www.aoa.org/AOA/Documents/Healthy%20Eyes/Digital_eyestrain.pdf
- https://www.aoa.org/healthy-eyes/eye-and-vision-conditions/computer-vision-syndrome?sso=y
- https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/c/computer-vision-syndrome.html
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9434525/
