We’re Focused on Your Eye Comfort

There’s a lot to love about digital screens, from lightning-quick communication to vast libraries of entertainment. But you might struggle to stay focused when uncomfortable vision and eye symptoms interrupt your work or screen time.

Digital eye strain describes a group of symptoms that can occur when we spend time viewing digital screens, including TVs, computers, phones, and e-readers. Completely giving up screen time is impractical, but there are solutions for improving your symptoms.

Add digital eye strain tips and treatments to your eye care tool kit. Contact Old Town Optix Optometry today!

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What Is Digital Eye Strain?

Prolonged exposure to digital screens can cause digital eye strain or computer vision syndrome. Your eyes work harder when viewing digital screens to keep up with scrolling, screen flickers, or glare.

When you view digital devices, you consistently concentrate at the same close distance. Therefore, your eyes don’t get a break. Imagine you work out at the gym but stick with the same weightlifting exercise for hours. The intense focus can be exhausting for your eyes.

Symptoms can vary depending on your eye health and vision but often include:

Blurry vision
Dry eye
Eye strain
Headaches
Neck & shoulder pain

Managing Your Symptoms

The 20/20/20 Rule

Giving your eyes a much-needed break can help your eyes relax and reduce eye strain. Whether you’re at home or work, try following the 20/20/20 rule. For every 20 minutes of screen time, avert your eyes from your screen to focus on an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

Combine screen breaks with stretch breaks, especially if you experience neck or shoulder pain.

Eye Drops

Artificial tears can help relieve tired, itchy, dry eyes. Over-the-counter eye drops can be helpful for temporary or mild symptoms. When dry eye is a chronic problem, talk to your optometrist about dry eye solutions.

Adjusting Your Space

How you view your digital devices can impact your comfort. Adjust your work or leisure space with ergonomics for the eyes:

Blink more: focusing on screens can change blink patterns, causing incomplete blinks (where your eyes don’t fully close) and leading to dry eye. Take screen breaks to reset your blink pattern.
Reduce glare: screen glare can make it harder to see and aggravate your symptoms. Try an anti-glare filter, keep your screen clean, and position your screen away from light sources.
Screen brightness: when your screen is too bright, it can make your eyes work harder. Match your brightness to your environment.

Viewing distance: how much viewing distance is necessary depends on the type of screen or activity. Generally, your screen should be at least arm’s length or 25 inches away.

Relief for Eye Strain

Whether you’re enjoying casual screen time or hard at work, we want to help make your visual experience comfortable. Talk to your optometrist for eye care tips and personalized solutions for digital eye strain. Book an appointment today!

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Come See What We’re About

Our practice is located in the Old Town La Quinta shopping mall complex. Find our door to the right of the Old Town Tavern. Plenty of parking is available on the south side of the building, facing Avenida La Fonda.