How to Save Your Vision in Today's Digital World

Today, most of us are fully immersed in the digital world around us. From our work computers to laptops and tablets to our smart phones that we never leave home without, we definitely always have an amazing amount of information at our fingertips. While technology has continually advanced to allow us access to this amazing flow of information, it can also put a tremendous strain on our eyes. Common symptoms that can result from excessive computer usage may include: eye strain, dry eyes, headaches, fatigue, blurred vision and loss of focus. The combination of these symptoms is often referred to as computer vision syndrome. March has recently been recognized as Save Your Vision month by many national eye care organizations and seeks to bring awareness to computer vision syndrome and how to best manage it. If you are one of the millions of Americans that now use some sort of digital device for more than 8 hours a day, you have probably felt your eyes begin to strain, dry out or become fatigued towards the end of the day. If this is you, then you have suffered from some of the symptoms of Computer Vision Syndrome. The barrage of symptoms from this syndrome can range from minor inconvenience to being totally debilitating and decreasing productivity completely. The best treatment for computer vision syndrome is often a combination of changing your digital work habits with the correct ergonomic setup and by taking frequent breaks to look off in the distance using the 20/20/20 rule. This is an easy exercise to relax your eyes so they do not overfocus up close by looking 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes you are at the computer. There are also occupational computer prescription eyeglasses that can help you read the computer and other digital devices. This will not only improve your vision at your proper viewing distance, but also aid your comfort and productivity while using your digital devices. Dry eye treatment may also be needed to help your vision perform optimally when staring at a monitor all day. This is often due to the fact that we tend not to blink as much when working on a computer and the right lubricating eye drop or medication dry eye drop can sometimes make all the difference. To see your best and perform up to your potential at work ask your eye doctor about computer vision syndrome at your next eye exam.