Do you wear computer glasses? Do they work? Are they worth the extra cash?

Question

Recently my eyes have been giving me trouble. (Fatigued, Blurriness, Headache) The eye doc said my in good shape. I ditched my CRTs for a pair of LCDs, that helped a lot. The lighting in the office is not great, but I can't change it yet... Have you used computer glasses? Do they really help?

UPDATE I have been wearing computer glasses for over 2 months. WOW I have a hard time working with out them and my eyes don't hate me at the end of the day!

What are "Computer Glasses"?

Why? Computer screens are usually positioned 20 to 26 inches from the user's eyes. This is considered the intermediate zone of vision — closer than driving ("distance") vision, but farther away than reading ("near") vision.

Most young people wear eyeglasses to correct their distance vision. Reading glasses are prescribed to correct near vision only. And bifocals prescribed for those over age 40 with presbyopia correct only near and far. Even trifocals and progressive lenses (which do have some lens power for intermediate vision) have only a small portion of the lens dedicated to this area, not nearly large enough for comfortable computer work.

Without appropriate eyeglasses, computer users can often end up with blurred vision, eyestrain, and headaches — the hallmark symptoms of computer vision syndrome. Worse still, many people try to compensate for their blurred vision by leaning forward, or by tipping their head to look through the bottom portion of their glasses. Both of these actions can result in a sore neck, sore shoulders and a sore back.

Research supports the notion that computer eyeglasses can increase worker productivity and that even a slightly inaccurate prescription can decrease it. A study conducted at the University of Alabama School of Optometry* examined the vision of computer users, ages 19 to 30, before and while performing tasks that required them to read fonts of various sizes on a computer screen. Participants in the study were randomly assigned to wear either computer glasses or non-corrective eyeglasses. Researchers timed the tests and recorded the number of errors the subjects made. The participants then answered questions about the vision problems they had experienced.

Answer 1

I have and they really help. Most notable is that I don't feel like a security risk when I drive my car home after work.

Answer 2

It's probably more due to the strain of staring without blinking enough, so they get dehydrated. Do you wear contacts? Try decreasing the brightness of your monitors so your eyes don't have to adjust between your office and your LCDs.

Answer 3

I actually wear real glasses and they're expensive enough - I don't want to be shelling out my hard-earned for more equipment, but there's a few things I do that have helped a lot.

• The move to an LCD monitor was good but not as effective as the other things here.
• Lighting is paramount. If your building lighting flickers, turn it off. Get a small lamp any way and use it to augment the office lighting.
• take breaks, seriously, you should not be staring at the monitor more than 45 minutes out of every hour. If your work doesn't afford you non-staring tasks, go for a quick walk.
• drink water, 2 liters a day. This is generally good advice but also specific for the eyes since dehydration can affect their shape.

Answer 4

There is good software to help you remember to take breaks. I've been using Workrave on and off for years.

Answer 5

I have some, and while I only wear them for long coding marathons, they do definitely help.

The way my optometrist explained it to me, is that the glasses make me slightly nearsighted, so my eyes don't have to work as hard to keep focus on the screen. As such, my eyes don't tire as quickly, and I have a lot fewer issues with eyestrain.

Another issue (as CookieOfFortune mentioned), is not blinking enough. I try to make a conscious effort to blink more, but in addition, I keep a bottle of lubricating eye drops near the computer and make sure to use them whenever I feel my eyes getting dry.

Answer 6

Tiredness and fatigue cause these problems as can other problems such as stress. Take a break and close your eyes occasionally. If your typing is good enough look away from the monitor or blur your eyes when you can. Do eye exercises, look into the distance and back close again, look around and around to loosen the muscles. Do this frequently and lightly (not excessively). If you feel your eyes are dry, taking a break may help or use saline eye drops that are harmless and can be used frequently.

Make sure there is no glare on your monitor from nearby lights/windows, see if you can turn the lights down in your area. Try to get your monitors up and parallel to your vision so that the focal plane from top to bottom is identical. Finally make sure you are actually sitting comfortably and relaxed.

If all these things have been checked and you are having problems, pick a good time when make sure you get a decent nights sleep for at least 5 consecutive nights, then go for an eye check up.

Personally I've found that glasses help very little (for my eye conditions) compared to getting some decent sleep.

Answer 7

I personally don't have "computer glasses", just regular glasses. There are some things you can consider doing before thinking about computer glasses.

1. Lower the brightness on your monitor. Most monitor comes with different modes like: Text, Entertainment, Internet, Custom, etc. I typically set it on Text which really helps when working on the computer for long duration.
2. Take a short break every once in a while. They suggest once every hour for 15 minutes but that might not be exactly doable sometimes so exercise some judgment and at least take one every couple of hours.
3. Eye exercises like the ones listed by LifeHacker (and here). Something I do differently is I sometimes take a towel and run it through warm water and place it over my eyes lightly which this really helps. Be careful not to use hot water or apply to much pressure to your eye.
4. As mentioned by others, blinking is important. Try to consciously remind yourself every so often to blink. Maybe a sticky note on your monitor will help you remind yourself.
5. Assortment of advices from doctor and online.

I've worn glasses pretty much most of my life and so I've grown rather accustomed to it but incorrect prescription can be harmful to your eyes but I've never felt that my regular glasses were inadequate for long-term use in front of the monitor.

Answer 8

Yes. I wear computer glasses at work. I'm 48, and my eyes are suffering from the normal aging process, accommodation. I also have trouble with CRTs blinking at me.

A couple of factors to consider.

Many monitors are set to have a refresh rate of 60 hertz. This is the same frequency that florescent lights blink. Generally they are out of sync a bit, and this causes the screen to appear to blink, causing eye strain. If you can, set your refresh rate to anything other than 60 hertz. This may help you a lot.

Switch to LCD. The company bought me a 22 inch lcd screen. That helped a lot. I can run with larger fonts too.

Move your monitor vertically. Get it up so the center of the screen is at eye level. That way, you won't be sitting hunched over all day. Sit up straight :) It will help cut your neck and back pains.

Take a break. Walk around a bit. Go help lower a coworkers productivity. This gives your eyes a chance to relax.

Get a pair of computer glasses. In my case, the focal length needs to be about 18 inches. I wear them at work, then use regular glasses for driving home. The combination of all of the above has pretty much eliminate my eye strain issues.

The computer glasses were worth every penny.

Answer 9

Anything that helps eyes from bright closeup screens must be of some help, just like staring into the sun for too long... you'll damage your eyes. PC screens are not as bright as the sun but are bright enough for your eyes to strain and want to shut. So I wear an anti glare coated sunglass from kontrolsports and my eyes feel more comfortable, at the end of the day it must be beneficial. No two peoples eyes are themsame so what works for one may not work for another so it's trial and error on the individual really.