Blue light and dry eyes

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Did you know that when we work on a computer screen and laptop and are much focused on a task, we tend to stare our computer screens for a prolonged period without blinking much, leading to an eye condition called dry eye?

There is a spike shown in the cases of dry eyes, and this eye condition is readily affecting the well-being of the population. The amount of time we spend on our screens affects our overall health, and the most damage has to be endured by our precious eyes.

This article will tell you how blue light is causing dry eye conditions and the preventive measures we can follow.

What is a dry eye?

Have you ever had an itchy sensation in eyes after prolonged use of computers or smartphones? This itchy sensation may be due to your eye producing less moisture and are getting dry.

Dry eye or dry eye disease is relatively common and affects about one-third of the world population. As the name suggests, the symptoms are more prevalent in or around eyes. The typical dry eye symptoms include:

  • Ocular burning
  • Eye fatigue
  • The feeling of stinginess in eyes
  • Dryness or less tears production in our eyes
  • Discomfort while wearing lenses 
  • Light sensitivity
  • Blurred vision
  • Redness
  • A sensation of having something in eyes
  • Difficulty in driving at night
  • Eyelids are sticking together after waking up.

Having a dry eye condition means our eyes are not producing a healthy or adequate amount of tears, and the situation gets worst in drier weather. 

How does blue light cause dry eyes?

We are more ‘plugged in’ than never before in today’s time. Experts suggest that spending time more on our digital screens, be it for work or leisure activities, has led to various eye damages in our population, and one such damage is a dry eye disease.

While using our digital screens, we tend to blink significantly less and stare at these screens for an extended period. This continuous staring and less blinking can lead to low tear production, which means dry eyes.

If we spend more time staring at our phones, laptops, LEDs, or tablets, we are more likely to spend a significant amount of time staring at the blue light. 

These blue lights can cause various eye damages, like eye strain and computer vision syndrome. Dry eyes can be one of the symptoms of these conditions or can happen without other symptoms.

How to protect our eyes from blue lights to reduce the prevalence of dry eyes?

Blue light, in a certain amount, is beneficial and required by us to carry out our daytime activities. However, excessive exposure of blue light causes various eye conditions, including dry eyes, and that is why we need to adopt some measures to block blue light as much as possible.

We should monitor our screen time use and take frequent breaks to give our eyes some rest.

We can install screen filters to block blue light emission. Screen filters are available for LEDs, smartphones, computers, and other digital devices.

We can consider the use of blue light blocking glasses. Blue light blocking glasses can relieve eye conditions occurring due to blue light exposure.

Blue light blocking lenses are available, and they, too, have proved to be relieving eye-related symptoms in some individuals.

How to relieve dry eye symptoms?

Dry eye is a common eye condition these days, and many of us suffering from it. However, that does not mean we have to live with it. These are various remedies that would help in relieving the symptoms of dry eye.

Use of artificial tears

The best treatment for dry eye caused by extended use to computer screens and other devices is artificial tears or lubricating eye drops.

More blinking

The more we stare at our digital screens, the less we would blink. We must try to blink more as blinking less can aggravate dry eye and other eye conditions. 

We can rest our eyes by closing it for twenty seconds after working on computers every twenty minutes.

Another trick can be adjusting our screens below the eye level. In this way, we don’t have to open our eyes wide, which may help slow tears evaporation between blinks.

LipiFlow

LipiFlow is the non-invasive technique to treat dry eye. This treatment involves the use of warm compress therapy and meibomian gland expression.

https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/dryeye.htm

https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/dry-eyes-home-remedies#2

https://www.healthline.com/health/dry-eye/treatments-for-chronic-dry-eye

https://www.manneye.com/advice/dry-eye-and-blue-light/

https://www.theraspecs.com/blog/dry-eye-and-light-sensitivity/

https://drseyewear.com/blogs/blue-light-blog/blue-light-filter-glasses-for-dry-eyes


Check out the latest price of Blue Light Blocking Glasses on Amazon