Vision & Age

Close Work

Lots of the things you enjoy doing from reading to card playing require being able to see up close. Unfortunately, that can be taxing on your eyes.

Why? One reason for eye-strain is presbyopia , a condition that occurs to most people as they age. Because the muscles of the eye become less flexible, you may have a harder time focusing on things that are near. Fortunately reading glasses, bifocal glasses, multifocal spectacles or multifocal contact lenses (such as SofLens® Multi-Focal and PureVision™ Multifocal contact lenses) are an easy solution to this problem.

Computers can be very stressful

If you spend a lot of time at the computer, you may be straining your eyes. Computer images are created from thousands of tiny dots so there is no distinct image for your eye to actually focus on. You have to focus and refocus to keep the images sharp and after two hours you end up with the same kind of repetitive stress in your eye muscles that the keyboard causes in your wrists.

The symptoms are dry, red, irritated eyes; headaches; back and neck aches; and trouble focusing. See the following tips that can reduce eye strain.

Tips to prevent Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS)

Keep your computer screen within 50cm - 60cm of your eyes
Keep the top of your computer screen slightly below eye level
Minimize the distance between your computer screen and any documents you need to reference while working
Use artificial tears to soothe irritated, dry eyes
Adjust lighting to minimize glare on the screen
Take a break every 15 minutes to focus on a distant object
Blink frequently
Contact your Eye Care Professional if redness or soreness in your eyes persists