Do Contact Lenses Cause Eye Fatigue?
If your normal work day includes sitting at a computer, meeting with clients or chasing kids around the houses, you may be experiencing eye fatigue. If you’re working over 8-10 hours, contact lens wearers can experience discomfort after a long day. It’s that feeling you get when your lenses feel a little scratchy and you know that all your eyes really want is to be closed for a little while. There’s a name for that sensation…
It’s called eye fatigue.
It happens to both contact lens wearers and non-wearers alike. In fact, the more time our culture spends staring at screens all day, the more likely we are to feel eye fatigue. For contact lens wearers, that tired eye feeling can compound into contact lens difficulties. When your eyes are tired, your lenses may start to burn, hurt, or not seem as clear.
Part of eye fatigue is often dryness.
When you stare at a screen or fine print, you blink less often. All those missed opportunities to blink result in eyes that aren’t as moist. In addition to the work your eyes do, the environment you work in can also lead to eye fatigue. If your desk is near a vent that blows dry heat or air conditioning out of it all day, this can make your eyes feel more dry and more tired. Are the lights in your office are fluorescent? This can have an impact on how your eyes feel after each work day.
If you struggle with that scratchy lens feeling and eye fatigue, know there are things you can do to keep your eyes happy until bed time.
Some suggestions to help your eye fatigue
- Invest in a good lens re-wetting drop. Apply these drops at lunch time or whenever you feel the slightest bit of discomfort and fend it off for a few more hours. If this doesn’t work, there are prescription eye drops available that you can use daily if dry eye is a more severe problem.
- Ask your America’s Best optometrist about computer or reading glasses that you can use with your contact lenses. These are special glasses, sometimes tinted, to help your eyes not tire out as quickly when looking at your computer screen.
- Take breaks. Every few minutes stop, look up from your screen, and look as far away as you can. If you have a window in your office, look out it at as far as you can see. These breaks give your eyes a chance to relax.
Eye fatigue and scratchy lenses don’t have to be your daily experience. Contact your local America’s Best optometrist to see if there’s a resolution to your eye fatigue.
