An End to Digital Eye Strain Symptoms

Are you noticing headaches, tired and dry eyes, or shoulder aches and pains at the end of a workday in front of your computer? You might be feeling the effects of digital eye strain, which is also known as computer vision syndrome.

Digital eye strain can affect people who spend as little as 2 consecutive hours at a computer or other screens daily. Your symptoms can be worse if your prescription isn’t up to date. See us for an update to your prescription and to learn about the changes to your workspace that can bring you relief.

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What Is Digital Eye Strain?

Digital eye strain describes the vision problems and eye discomfort that results from regular screen use.

This discomfort can occur due to uncorrected vision problems, including an outdated prescription or one that isn’t right for your work needs. In some cases, the symptoms might be a result of your eyes not working together correctly.

Digital eye strain can also be made worse by glare on your computer screen, poor lighting in your workspace, or poor posture.

Alleviating Digital Eye Strain

During a comprehensive eye exam, we’ll discuss your symptoms with you and ask about your workspace setup so we can help create a treatment plan that fits your life.

Updating Your Prescription

It’s important that your prescription is current and your glasses or contacts correct any nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism. A mild prescription that doesn’t affect other daily tasks like driving can still cause discomfort while working at a computer.

Even if you’ve never needed vision correction before, if you’re in your 40s or older, you may start to notice vision changes caused by presbyopia. This is a natural part of aging that results in difficulty focusing on close-up objects. Multifocal contacts or glasses can correct presbyopia and bring you comfort at work again.

Adjusting Your Workspace

One of the simplest things you can do is use the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break to look at something 20 feet away.

You also typically blink less while working at a computer, which means more time for your tears to evaporate, leading to dry eyes. Remember to blink often and ask us about eye drops for dry eye symptoms.

Some changes to your desk and monitor can also relieve symptoms, including:

Moving your screen to be about an arm’s length away, and 20 degrees below eye level
Adjusting lighting to eliminate glare on your screen and match the brightness of your screen to the surrounding light

Dry Eyes

If you experience dry, gritty, sore eyes during screen use or at the end of your workday, you may have dry eye disease.

It’s a common and frustrating condition causing discomfort to millions of people worldwide. We can create a personalized treatment plan with you to help relieve your dry eyes.

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Vision Therapy

Sometimes, digital eye strain is related to how your eyes work together (or fail to work together). If binocular vision problems cause your eye strain, we may recommend a vision therapy program. This is like an exercise program for your eye muscles. Over several weeks or months of treatment, your eye muscles can learn to work together properly.

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