Over the past two months, our Optometrists have been busy seeing people with overworked and tired eyes. It didn’t take long to coin in a new syndrome called COVID-19 Eyes.

Our patients have told us that whether they are working from home, in the office or a bit of both, digital users are doing MORE screen work now than before the COVID-19 outbreak, often working 10 hours a day.

Frustrated with anything that interrupts the workflow, they fail to understand how vision is impacted with with long bouts of screen time.

Vision is the body’s dominant sense and the ocular system is held together by delicate muscles working in sync to control focusing and movement of the eyeballs. These muscles are very small and the system is dynamic but a heavy workload can easily disrupt them, throwing the entire ocular system into chaos.

Seeing CLEARLY is not enough during long periods of screen work, the vision must be COMFORTABLE and SUSTAINABLE. Often patients tell us they had an eye test a year ago and their vision was fine but they still avoid or need to take frequent breaks when using screens to cope with significant discomfort.

Blurred vision is the most obvious problem that drives screen users to see Optometrists, however, what are the NOT SO OBVIOUS CAUSES of visual dysfunction:

• Allergies
• Moving closer to the screen
• Poor concentration
• Excessive blinking
• Headaches
• Red or itchy eyes
• Neck pain
• Head tilt
• Sleepiness
• Eye pain

Our Optometrists have upskilled during COVID-19 to help patients overworking or working in different environments maintain smoother, clearer, comfortable vision for frequent changes of head movement and eye posture. Call now to make an appointment! The Galeries (02) 92893 0900 Chifley Plaza (02) 9221 0000