| Q.1.
Who Is Affected by Computer Vision Syndrome? |
| A.1. Children work at a computer each day either at home or in school. Prolonged computer use can stress a child's eyes and impact his or her vision development. |
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| Q.2. What Are the Symptoms of CVS? |
| A.2. If you or your child spend more than two hours each day in front of a computer screen, you likely experience some degree of computer vision syndrome (CVS). Symptoms of CVS include: |
- Headaches
- Loss of focus
- Burning/tired eyes
- Double/blurred vision
- Neck and shoulder pains
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| Q.3. What Causes Computer Vision Syndrome? |
| A.3. CVS is caused by our eyes and brain reacting differently to characters on the screen than they do to printed characters. Our eyes have little problem focusing on most printed material, which is characterized by dense black characters with well-defined edges. Healthy eyes can easily maintain focus on the printed page. Characters on a computer screen, however, don’t have this contrast or well-defined edges. These characters (pixels) are brightest at the center and diminish in intensity toward their edges. This makes it very difficult for our eyes to maintain focus and remain fixed onto these images. Instead our eyes drift out to a point called the “resting point of accommodation” or RPA. |
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| Our eyes involuntarily move to the RPA, and then strain to regain focus on the screen. This continuous flexing of the eyes’ focusing muscles creates fatigue and the burning, tired-eyes feeling that is so common after long hours at the computer. |
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| Q.4. What Can I Do About It? |
| A.4. The solution is simple: see an eyecare professional that specializes in computer vision care. In most cases, standard reading glasses or over-the-counter readers are not accurate enough, because viewing a computer is usually at a different distance (18”-28”) than reading distance (16”-21”). Once an eye doctor accurately diagnoses your computer vision problem and determines your correct computer working distance, it’s a simple matter to prescribe computer eyeglasses that will allow you to work comfortably and productively at that distance. |
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| Also, please read about studies that show computer eyewear can increase computer worker productivity significantly, with cost savings for employers who provide the eyewear. |
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| Q.5. Will Glare Screens Prevent CVS? |
| A.5. Glare screen filters may help somewhat, but they will not solve your computer vision problems because they only affect glare from the computer screen — not the visual problems related to the constant refocusing of your eyes when working at a computer. |
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| Only when your eyes can focus clearly at the plane of proper distance on the computer screen can they experience relief from the fatiguing effects of CVS. An anti-reflective coating (AR) is also highly recommended on all computer eyeglasses. An AR coating prevents glare and reflections on the front and the back of the lenses that would interfere with focusing on the screen. Read more about minimizing glare. |
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| Q.6. Will Computer Eyeglasses Make the Screen Clearer? |
| Yes, because they will eliminate the constant refocusing effort that your eyes go through when viewing the screen. It has also been proven clinically that having the correct prescription in computer eyeglasses increases productivity and accuracy. |
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| Q.7. Do Computer Eyeglasses Look Like Safety Glasses? |
| A.7. No. Almost any style of frame can be used for computer eyewear. More important are the lenses that your eye doctor chooses for your computer eyeglasses. Ninety percent of the time, multifocal lenses will be your best choice, as they are designed specifically for working at a computer. They allow you to see clearly at your correct computer screen distance and can give you some distance vision beyond the computer. But whether the lenses are multifocal or single vision, you and your eye doctor must determine the best lenses for your work environment. |
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| Q.8. What About the Tints I've Heard of for 'Computer Lenses'? |
| A.8. If you work in a brightly lit office, you may benefit from a light tint applied to your computer lenses. This can cut the amount of light that reaches your eyes and provide relief in some cases. But tints and filters don’t address the underlying cause of computer eyestrain. |
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| Q.9. Does Every Computer User Need Computer Glasses? |
| A.9. More than 70% of computer users need computer eyeglasses.** In fact, according to a study out of the University of California, Berkeley, 25%-30% of children would benefit from computer eyewear. |
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| Q.10. Is It True That if a Person Doesn't See the Computer Screen Clearly, He May Not Be as Productive? |
| Yes, but in cases where the correction is only slightly off, the computer user may think he is seeing the screen clearly. Yet a recent study at the University of Alabama found that, over time, even the smallest miscorrection can cause big problems down the road, including loss of productivity and accuracy in the workplace. The eyes viewing a computer for many hours a day is analogous to the eye muscles being forced to do push-ups for hours and hours. Over time, these push-ups will significantly affect productivity, accuracy, and comfort. |
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| To know more about Computer Vision Syndrome |
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