Computer Vision Syndrome- Just Blink!
- Insight uOttawa
- Feb 7, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 9, 2021
As a student amidst the COVID-19 pandemic or an employee trying to work from home, you have probably experienced blurred vision, headaches, redness, dry eyes, and maybe even neck and shoulder pain. Well, you can stop googling your symptoms, because I’m here to tell you that these symptoms are actually a sign of Computer Vision Syndrome. Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) is often referred to as “digital eye strain” and can sometimes be associated with dry eye syndrome. The Japanese Dry Eye Society and Asia Dry Eye Society concluded that dry eye arises from instability of the tear-film, which is the liquid layer covering the cornea.
There are many ways to alleviate or prevent these symptoms that occur after a long day of looking at a screen. Barak Turgut from the Department of Ophthalmology at Yuksek University describes 13 recommendations for the prevention of CVS. Some of these recommendations include ensuring the distance from your eyes to the screen is at least 20-25inches, increasing the contrast of the screen, installing a humidifier in the room and remembering to blink often. Visit Ocular Ergonomics to learn more.
The Association for Computing Machinery decided that a simple way to treat CVS would be to increase blinking by wearing a shnazzy pair of DualBlink glasses. These glasses, when worn, track how often the wearer blinks. When an insufficient number of blinks have occurred, they will trigger blinks via light flashes, physical taps or small puffs of air. I’m not sure if you have ever endured the puff test at the optometrist’s office to check your intraocular pressure, but boy does it ever make your eyes water (a seemingly good solution). These glasses trigger blinks non-invasively and with little distraction, so work can be accomplished seamlessly when wearing them. You can read more about the study and creation of these glasses by gaining access through this link: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3053330.
Figure 1: Schematic of Ultrasonic Glasses. A small water reservoir provides humidity for the area enclosed by the lens.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1350946220300148#sec2
The DualBlink glasses are not the only type of glasses invented to treat dry eyes and CVS. The Tsubota lab developed a pair of dry eye spectacles called Ultrasonic Moisture Glasses. The Tsubota lab concluded that dry eye and CVS arise from an increased rate of tear film evaporation from the surface of the eye, and that those tears evaporated quicker in a less humid environments. They decided to create a pair of glasses, that when worn, increases humidity around the eyes and decreased tear evaporation. The glasses provided a local environment that was 15.2% more humid than the rest of the room, and greatly reduced discomfort of having dry eyes.
Staring at our computers for 8+ hours a day might be good for our GPA or get us closer to a long-term goal, but it has an even greater effect on the health of our eyes than we may believe. Next time you sit down for a long study session, get yourself a pair of humidifying glasses or just simply remember to blink.
References
Dementyev, A., & Holz, C. (2017, March 01). DualBlink: A Wearable Device to Continuously
Detect, Track, and Actuate Blinking For Alleviating Dry Eyes and Computer Vision
Syndrome. Retrieved January 27, 2021 from https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3053330
Kojima, T., Dogru, M., Kawashima, M., Nakamura, S., & Tsubota, K. (2020, January 29).
Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of dry eye. Retrieved January 27, 2021, from
Onomura, S., Kawashima, M., Aketa, N., Kondo, S., & Tsubota, K. (2018, September 04).
Effect of Ultrasonic Moisture Glasses on Dry Eye Signs and Symptoms. Retrieved
January 27, 2021, from https://tvst.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2705528
Turgut, B. (2018, January 15). Ocular Ergonomics for the Computer Vision Syndrome.
Retrieved January 27, 2021, from https://www.imedpub.com/articles/ocular-ergonomics-
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