Dry Eyes, Eyestrain and Blue Light

The blue light emitted by electronic devices screens can lead to dry eye symptoms such as dry and irritated eyes, eyestrain, blurred vision and sometimes headaches.

Have you ever felt to eye discomfort after extended use of your computer or your smartphone? The classic symptoms of ocular discomfort often include a burning sensation and dry eye as well as eyestrain and ocular fatigue.

Known as “computer vision syndrome“, it consists of eyestrain due to use of our eyes in front of a computer screen or electronic devices. First, there is the blinking problem. When we work on a computer screen, the frequency of our blink falls drastically. This decrease in the blinking frequency is involuntary and sometimes you have to think consciously to blink as blinking is very important in the eye lubrication process.

However, apart from the decrease of the blinking rate of the eyes during computer work, it seems that the blue light emitted by these devices play an important role in eye fatigue felt by the user. The phenomenon of dry eye is unfortunately growing, and affects more and more, a young and healthy population.

We must not neglect the long-term impact of electronic devices use. In the long term, the combination of blue light and decreasing the blink rate will have a negative impact on the ocular comfort.

Blue light protection for dry and sensitive eyes. This could be due to the fact that young children uses electronic devices from a young age and spend more time watching television, computers, video games and mobile phones. When counting the number of time spent in front of our computers, in addition to the one passed in front of our telephone screen and tablets, it is still a considerable number of hours per week where our eyes look at a screen that emits blue light.

Eyestrain symptoms may include dry eyes but are not limited to dry eyes. Your eyes can be red, irritated and even blurred vision sometimes. Everybody should, but specially if you suffer from dry eyes, to take regular breaks and take the appropriate measures to limit the negative impact due to prolonged use of electronic devices. First, think to blink more often eye. To achieve that, there are free software on the internet that can be installed on your computer and will reminds you at regular intervals to blink and to take breaks and look away. With respect to blue light, there are glasses that filter the blue light. You can also install a screen protector on you smartphone that will block this blue light that can contribute to your eyestrain.

If your eyes are dry, if you are suffering from an autoimmune disease that causes dry eye, the use of a computer screen can be particularly painful. Even if you do warm compresses and take omega 3, you should take the appropriate measures when you are using a electronic device before eye discomfort sets in. Consider wearing moisture chamber glasses and use a humidifier in the room while working on the computer.  The use of a anti blue light filter could also help you fight this eyestrain. Fortunately, you can buy filters designed to block the harmful blue light that are emitted by portable devices screen. Not to be confused with anti-reflection coating that you can put on your glasses. It’s not the same thing !

Besides the eyestrain and eye dryness caused by these screens, it seems that blue light can also have a impact on macular degeneration but there are still many studies to be conducted prior to establishing a causal link.

You should also make sure that your computer screen is slightly lower than the level of your eyes so that when you look at the screen, you always look slightly downward. The fact of looking downard reduces the opening of the eyelids, thus reducing tear evaporation and dry eyes. If you look up, your eyes are wide open and you quickly feel eye discomfort.

Some models of anti blue light filters are now available at the DryEyes-Store. If you do not find the model that is right for your phone, email us and we will endeavor to try to find one. For more information click on this link:

http://dryeyes-store.com/dry-eye-store/anti-blue-light-screen-protector/