Eye pain/strain only when looking at screens?

Just to let everyone know what’s working for me is prescription of Restasis eye drops. My eye dr said I have very dry eyes and sensitivity to blue limit immited by screens. I used these drops and I’m able to work in front of my computer!  I couldn’t handle more than 10 minutes before. I was also told to buy blue light blocking computer screens and prescription lenses coated did blocking UV and blue light. Whatever works!

"2018 September 06 - Neurolens announced the introduction of the first and only prescription lenses that add a contoured prism to relieve the headaches, neck/shoulder pain and eyestrain that 65 percent of U.S. adults complain of when using digital devices, reading, or doing detail work. "

More information on their website.

Could you please let me know how you figured out this problem with your eyes? I am suffering from the exact same thing for more than a couple of months now. I consulted many Doctors. But still, after using the dry eye drops, the symptoms are not diminishing. This condition has been ruining the daily life activities especially while looking at a computer.

I really appreciate your reply.

Thank you so much for your reply

Hello friend, I write here in the hope that you can help me. I have an identical problem as you described and many others in your thread.

I haven't found a solution for more than 5 years, the problem with the screens affects my work and life, my eyes and head constantly hurt.

Ophthalmologists are not helpful, they say everything is fine with my eyes. I don't wear glasses, i don't have diopter. Computer glasses, (like Gunnar) also do not help, they make me worse even more.

You mentioned vision therapy, would you be kind to provide me links to this via DM, or anyone else who got them, I would be grateful to you. Thanks

Sorry for my bad English, isn't my native language.

Hi, about 5 months ago, I had a problem of not being able to look at the screens in the same way, but when I started to spend a lot of time, this problem started again and I went to 4 ophthalmologists, they say everything is very good, I started to think it was the same thing. I started doing pencil push up training myself and it seems a little good, if you have another document about vision threapy can you send it from dm , i need it pls ty 😭

Turn the brightness down on your screens.

Hi unknownTous, my name is Monika, I have this exact same problem, no doctor seems to know what it is and I haven't had any help for the last 3 months, please can you PM me the links you have been sending to others with therapy excercises and any other relevant information. How can I look for an eye therapist like you did? I had never heard of that, I live in Madrid.

thank you in advance for you help.

Hello everyone,

First of all, let me thank you unkownTous for creating this forum thread, I would have never gotten better if I hadn't found your recommendation to see an optometrist for eye therapy and rehabilitation.

I have been waiting four months to write this reply. I too suffer from eye pain when looking at screens, after getting through a horrible twelve hour long migraine (never suffered from migraines before). I had been working in the computer non-stop during a period of high stress and a difficult emotional situation, which I think triggered the migraine.

To me the pain wasn't only when looking at screens, I couldn't even take a walk around the park without getting terrible pain and headaches. But using screens was the worst. All that has gone away through the therapy and I still have difficulties working with screens after three and a half months of "eye exercise" but I can manage three hours of work time on it and I don't get any headaches ever.

I am here to help who ever I can with exercise recommendations and other information that might help others. So the following are things that greatly improved my situation:

1. See an optometrist that works with rehabilitation and eye therapy. (This resulted very expensive, I know, and I also know that this might not be available in many locations.

2. Exercises:

   a) Look and lock your sight onto an object at a distance of at least 5 meters. Don't push to hard to make that spot you are locked on appear clear. While concentrating in keeping your sight locked onto that spot, try to see what objects are around and name them. Do this as much as you can during the day. If you use screens, take a 5 min break after each hour of work to do this.

b)Spend as much time as you can in open spaces and try to carry out one hour of symmetric exercise (for example walking, running, swimming, riding a bicycle).

c)MARSDEN BALL: Tie a small but heavy ball (for example a baseball or a tennis ball) to a rope or go online and buy a Marsden Ball (the one I got was white with letters all around). I have also seen them be called pendulum balls, but googling it as Marsden ball works. The exercise, as the name suggests, is to find a spot and/or a mechanism that allows the ball to swing like a pendulum. Now, there are many exercises you can do with this, and they increase in difficulty, but to me, the first stage and one that helped me the most, was lying down on the floor and looking at the ball from the bottom. From there you make it swing vertically, horizontally, diagonally (both diagonal lines) and in circle (clockwise and counter-clockwise).

d)VISION CONVERGENCE TRAINING BALL: this one you will have to buy online because is a little more complex. Google it and you will see how it is configured. You will have to tie one end somewhere you can then have like 3 meters of distance to the other end, where you will be holding it. The exercise works like this: hold the non-tied end of the rope at the height of the tip of your nose. Put one ball across the rope at a 35 cm distance from you. Focus on the ball and try to see two ropes going in the ball and two ropes going out the ball. You should see the parts of the rope doubled. Move the ball further and do this again. Keep doing it until you can't see the ropes (front and back from the ball) doubled. Then come back to the first position of the ball. This increases in difficulty. Then you can do this with more balls, tie the end higher so you are looking a little upwards the rope, a little down, move it a little but to one side so the end you are holding it closer to one eye, then the other.

e)Computer Based Vision Therapy: there is software designed to create specific vision conditions to train and exercise your eye and "teach" how to improve your vision capabilities. I used the software HTS. It is costly, but this helped improve the most. It contains many different exercises to train convergence and divergence, focusing from a far, from up close, eye movement, etc.

I realize now that is is harder to explain in writing and there is too much to explain, so I'll be stopping here. If you can contact an optometrist who specializes in this kind of therapy, and is affordable to you, my recommendation is to do it.

Cheers everyone, you can get out of this, you will get better