Eye Health: The Struggle is Real

How many of you spend most of your day staring a computer screen? Now how many of you suffer from headaches or neck pain or blurry vision or dry eyes constantly? Some of you might have issues from other medical issues but for the vast majority of you it is likely your eyes. What I am describing is Computer Vision Strain and it is a simple problem that can be fixed by the simple application of glasses or contacts.

You already have glasses? They might not be helping because glasses for a normal vision prescription do not work with computers most of the time. The problem with them is that while working on a computer our eyes have to stay focused and “converged” (pointed at the correct spot) for a longer period of time. When our eyes are working with the environment around us, they do not have this problem because your eyes are not trained on one point that holds your attention for hours on end.

The good news is that the problem has a few solutions. For those of us lucky enough to have normal vision there is a special trick you can employ that will help you stay out of glasses for longer. Dr. James E. Sheedy recommends a simple rule to follow that he calls the 20-20-20 rule. This rule works for computers as well as tablets and smart phones that people spend a long time looking at these days. For every twenty minutes you spend looking at whatever screen typically causes you trouble take your eyes away from the screen for twenty seconds and focus on something that is at least twenty feet away from your work space. This allows your eyes time to rest from the intense convergence and focus it takes to work on a computer. Unfortunately, this may not work for everyone and that is where we come in. The friendly staff here at St Johns Vision Clinic can help you get fitted for a special pair of computer glasses that will put all your computer related aches and pains to rest. These glasses are meant to be worn only while working at a computer and will not usually be applicable for use as regular glasses.

Many of you might be saying at this point: “I got computer glasses at the drug store, they don’t work. What makes you think your solution is any better?” I’ll tell you a secret: no drug store sells computer glasses. The cheap pair of glasses that you buy at your local CVS are likely just reading glasses and should not be used in lieu of prescription computer glasses from your optometrist. These will only make your computer problems worse.

Hopefully this post has been informative and we here at the clinic hope to see you in for a visit soon.