Most people don’t realize that eye fatigue from computers can be greatly reduced by the glasses they wear.

Why Do I Need Prescription Computer Glasses?

Most people who’ve worked on a computer for a long time wear glasses, and while research shows that computer monitors do not emit any sort of radiation that can cause damage to your eyes, eye strain and fatigue are common complaints that stem from long-term computer use.

Eye fatigue, headaches, dry eyes, and other symptoms that come from hours of computer use are caused by the muscles of your eyes attempting to focus on a fixed distance for a long period of time. It’s akin to the strain you might feel from wearing a backpack for hours on end; in the beginning, it might be hardly noticeable, but after a long time you might feel pains in parts of your back you didn’t know existed.

If you experience eye fatigue from using a computer, here’s what you can do to help it:

• Talk to your eye doctor.If you’re experiencing eye fatigue and other computer viewing related symptoms, you should measure the distance that you normally sit from the monitor, then go see your doctor. Often, your eye doctor can prescribe you a prescription specifically for computer use which has a different strength than reading glasses or distance glasses.
• Get anti-reflective coating. Anti-reflective (AR) coating on your lenses reduces the amount of reflections and glare that you experience while wearing glasses. It makes them seem clearer as well. This may help with your eye fatigue.
• Take breaks. Because eye fatigue is related to overuse of the eye muscles involved in reading on a computer, often you can help it by taking regular short breaks from your computer screen. Get up and look at things that are farther away than your computer screen, allowing your eyes time to relax.
• Adjust your lighting. Make sure you have good lighting in the room and that there is no glare from lights reflecting off of your lenses or monitor. This can add to eye fatigue significantly.
• Adjust your monitor. Your computer monitor should be roughly 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 feet from your face. Any closer or farther can cause eye fatigue.
• Keep your eyes moist. If you have indoor allergies or if your eyes naturally dry up from reading for long periods, be sure to keep moistening eye drops near your computer and use them as needed (and follow the directions on the bottle). Dry eyes are more prone to soreness and fatigue.

Eye comfort is extremely important if you’re working on a computer for long hours on a regular basis. You should do your best to do everything you can to keep your eyes relaxed and to avoid ever getting eye fatigue symptoms in the first place. Nobody likes to go home after work with a headache and sore eyes, both of which could potentially ruin the rest of your night.

It is also important to keep up with your eye prescription. If you’re getting headaches from computer use and reading but haven’t had an eye exam in over a year or two, you should probably see your eye doctor and talk about your symptoms. A new prescription is probably a good starting point to get rid of your discomfort.

If you have any more questions about prescription glasses for computer use and what you can do to reduce your eye fatigue, leave us a comment below or give us a call! We’d love to hear from you. Thanks for reading!