Dry eyes and sitting in front of monitors all day

[hvbias]

I'm curious if others experience dry eyes, I imagine many of us spend a lot of the day in front of a computer. I use hard contact lenses (due to mild keratoconus) which exacerbates the problem.

I have been meaning to look into studies (please mention them if you've already browsed these) but for the time being I have just trying things out, I haven't tried any generics yet but will once I find out which active ingredients work best.

15 minutes per eye warm compress before putting in contact lenses - this makes the biggest difference. Recommended to me by my optometrist as opening up the tear ducts.

GenTeal Tears - this is a lubricant gel and is the longest lasting of the drops. Unfortunately can't be used with contacts as it will cause blurring that will last far too long. Used a good amount of time before putting in the lens and at night is fine. Active ingredient - hypromellose

Blink lubricating eye drops for contact lenes - work very well, I use them about once every couple of hours. Active ingredient - doesn't say, just has ingredient list

Systane Complete Optimal Dry Eye Relief - the weakest, claims some "nano droplet" technology. This might be due to the smaller quantity it dispenses per drop, Blink in comparisons drops are larger in quantity. Active ingredient is propylene glycol.

 

[ZolaIII]

I don't know what goes with eye lenses from so called artificial tears. Have the problem from time to time on winter when there is a little of air flow, dry air and I watch for long on a HDR display used one's that I had home. If you can try with indirect light (beamer - projector) and when you can.

Ps: consult pharmacists or more of them.

 

[garbulky]

I'm curious if others experience dry eyes, I imagine many of us spend a lot of the day in front of a computer. I use hard contact lenses (due to mild keratoconus) which exacerbates the problem.

I have been meaning to look into studies (please mention them if you've already browsed these) but for the time being I have just trying things out, I haven't tried any generics yet but will once I find out which active ingredients work best.

15 minutes per eye warm compress before putting in contact lenses - this makes the biggest difference. Recommended to me by my optometrist as opening up the tear ducts.

GenTeal Tears - this is a lubricant gel and is the longest lasting of the drops. Unfortunately can't be used with contacts as it will cause blurring that will last far too long. Used a good amount of time before putting in the lens and at night is fine. Active ingredient - hypromellose

Blink lubricating eye drops for contact lenes - work very well, I use them about once every couple of hours. Active ingredient - doesn't say, just has ingredient list

Systane Complete Optimal Dry Eye Relief - the weakest, claims some "nano droplet" technology. This might be due to the smaller quantity it dispenses per drop, Blink in comparisons drops are larger in quantity. Active ingredient is propylene glycol.

Meibonium Gland dysfunction. The gland gets clogged sometimes feeling like something is in your eye. With the warm compress rub your eyes with firm but gentle pressure downwards.
For the warm compress I've found this to be very convenient.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C842BHV/

 

[hvbias]

Meibonium Gland dysfunction. The gland gets clogged sometimes feeling like something is in your eye. With the warm compress rub your eyes with firm but gentle pressure downwards.
For the warm compress I've found this to be very convenient.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C842BHV/

Excellent, thanks. Do you use contact lenses as well? When she has looked at my eyes with a slit lamp she said the ducts weren't clogged.

 

[Soniclife]

You blink less looking at computer screens than other times, up to a third less, so dry eyes is a common problem, talk to an optician about the best product for you.

 

[garbulky]

Excellent, thanks. Do you use contact lenses as well? When she has looked at my eyes with a slit lamp she said the ducts weren't clogged.

I used to do contacts for a few years but had to stop because of the irritation. I thought the soft lenses were bad enough. I can only imagine the hard ones! The ones I used at the time was the Oasis Hydraclear.

 

[Shorty]

Also: most people are looking at screens (and TV*s) that are way too bright. Have you played with contrast and brightness of your screens? For text, I turn everything as low as possible.
My TV-screens have been ISF-calibrated; a real eye-opener! Instead of looking into a lamp it is like looking through a window…

 

[restorer-john]

Also: most people are looking at screens (and TV*s) that are way too bright. Have you played with contrast and brightness of your screens? For text, I turn everything as low as possible.

That interesting. I'd never considered my screen was too bright. Looked at the setting an it was 100%! Eeek. So, I've turned it down to 0% and it's still perfectly bright.

What disadvantages are there for eyes having it bright?

 

[Certainkindoffool]

I always struggled with contacts and eye dryness - lasik was a real game changer.

I did find that keeping a glass of water at hand at all times helped. Also, monitors with 1000r curvature made a big difference with eye fatigue. Not having to refocus my eyes as I looked around the screen made a much bigger difference that I expected. Unfortunately, I discovered this after eye surgery, so I can't comment on the interactionwith contacts..

 

[dasdoing]

the "brightness" control should only be used for calibration. what we percieve as overall brightness should be ajusted with the "backlight" control. my screen has a automatic backlight feature that works pretty well. it meassures the brightness of the room and adjusts the backlight acordingly

 

[restorer-john]

What scares me is I reduced the brightness to the lowest level and there is absolutely no difference with readability. Maybe I have been running super bright backlit LED LCDs 'just because' with no good reason and plenty of downsides.

 

[BoredErica]

I'd just calibrate my monitor at 80-100 nits and call it a day.
Maybe not if you work with HDR stuff, I dunno much about that. I've only been working with SDR stuff.

 

[Gorgonzola]

I have had severely dry eyes for over a decade. Given I worked in front of a computer screen most of the day, my dry eye condition was factor in my decision to retire. My condition significantly reduces my enjoyment of life.

Mostly I used 'Refresh Tears' about 5-9 times a day during the day; going to bed I use 'Systane Ointment' for over night. These help but are no solution to the problem.

 

[litemotiv]

What scares me is I reduced the brightness to the lowest level and there is absolutely no difference with readability.

But is that the 'brightness' control next to the 'contrast' control, or actual backlight brightness (power level)?

The backlight brightness is usually the most important factor to reduce eye strain, the other brightness/contrast settings are mostly for calibration (they change the shade of respectively the blacks and the whites on screen).

 

[BoredErica]

One thing that can cause meibomium gland dysnfunction is retinol, if it gets into your eyes. Maybe not an issue for guys because guys don't tend to do skincare a lot.

 

[dasdoing]

What scares me is I reduced the brightness to the lowest level and there is absolutely no difference with readability. Maybe I have been running super bright backlit LED LCDs 'just because' with no good reason and plenty of downsides.

the "brightness" control actualy adjusts the dark greys. when you lower it the darkest greys will all get black. to high and the pure black gets grey. If you don't want to calibrate your screen (e.g. https://www.avsforum.com/threads/avs-hd-709-blu-ray-mp4-calibration.948496/) I would let brightness (and others) on pre-defined. have you found a "backlight" setting? it should do what you want

 

[restorer-john]

the "brightness" control actualy adjusts the dark greys. when you lower it the darkest greys will all get black. to high and the pure black gets grey. If you don't want to calibrate your screen (e.g. https://www.avsforum.com/threads/avs-hd-709-blu-ray-mp4-calibration.948496/) I would let brightness (and others) on pre-defined. have you found a "backlight" setting? it should do what you want

Basically behind the LCD panel there are several banks of LEDs. They illuminate the LCD panel via a combination of lenses, reflective panels, polarizers and a complicated area-specific PWM brightness management system.

For website (static, scroll text etc) sites, a fixed illumination is great. It's all thee BS "adaptive" light levels they throw at us that ruin the fun.

 

[dasdoing]

For website (static, scroll text etc) sites, a fixed illumination is great. It's all thee BS "adaptive" light levels they throw at us that ruin the fun.

I think you are talking about "adaptive contrast" or something like this? this I would never leave on. "adaptive backlight" doesn't ruin anything, and it wont make changes while scrolling text. it doesn't analyse the input signal at all

 

[Mart68]

That interesting. I'd never considered my screen was too bright. Looked at the setting an it was 100%! Eeek. So, I've turned it down to 0% and it's still perfectly bright.

What disadvantages are there for eyes having it bright?

I always have mine at zero brightness, gives me a headache otherwise.

 

[litemotiv]

High light intensity excites the optical cortex more, this causes neural fatigue and eventually overload. It may also cause unwanted squinting to reduce the amount of light that gets in, this causes muscle fatigue.

Very low lighting can also be problematic when the contrast becomes too low to read comfortably, this will also cause squinting and muscle fatigue.

As always, moderation is generally the best approach.