Over the last few years I've noticed increasing eye irritation from monitor glare. Putting it off to old age I was surprised when my eye doctor informed me it was due to early cataracts.  Guess it pays to get those eye checkups regularly.........

ABM

Yes, I know the monitor can bother you,  There are anti-glare shields you can put on it.  Also, if you get glasses, there is a special shade you should get on the lenses.  You'll have to ask the person you get glasses from.  Just tell them you use a computer enough that you feel it would be best for you to take that option.

Good luck with everything!

Just had the same diagnosis from my eye doctor. Unfortunately the glasses I got for the computer just make me seasick.  

I was an Optician in California for 7 years and the colors for your computer would be 1st> UV Coating. 2nd> a light pink/orange shade. Also if you know anyone that is Dyslexic that is also a helpful shade for them also!

Main thing is to have at least 18" distance from your monitor. More causes eyes to strain & fatique, less  is the same but in an entirely different context. If you get computer glasses do not let the doctor generically figure out that distance, tell them honestly where you sit, how you sit (*slouched, leaning in, etc) and use your arms to measure the correct length from your computer. The screen should be just in reach of your finger tips when your arms are outstretched.

I also wear glasses and have them double check for Astigmatism in both eyes! Hope this helps everyone.

Ariana 

What about cellphone screens?  Any specifics for them?

Thanks!

Boy cell phones are tricky! I don't think they have small screens to block UV, but I would check on that at Best Buy or simuliar stores. I know this would be too heavy, but when i do flash photography and want a really diffused flash I use a thin surgical/gauze tape over the flash. I don't think that would be good for a cell phone screen.

You know the clear cover that adheres statically to a new cell phone screen? There may be something like that with a UV coating available! If not consider Plano Lenses (*no RX) that are UV coating! Grey to pink tint is very flattering to almost all make ups and is soothing to the eye a bit. Plus side, it minimizes the look of wrinkles! Make it a smart fashion statement! :)

Hope this helps some.

HugZ!
Ariana

That's darned interesting!  I'll pass this info along. 

Thanks again. (:

No problem! In my stae of Nevada I cannot proctice being an Optician even though I have my ABO (*american board of Opticians) license from California. Because here you have to apprentice through a doctor, and even then you can only do one facet of what i consider a whole range of necessary skills, like measuring bi-focals/contacts, fitting frames, or even checking in glasses from the lab! You can only do one function at a time. What a colossal waste of talent!

I was a key carrier for Frame-N-Lense corporation for 7+ years. So in my opinion the way Nevada does it is so weird. They have a saying here, "We don't care how you did it in California". Not hard to believe that it is a predominantly Republican state. Ooopsie! Well I guess you know whose side I am on now... Yours! ;)

Hope all this info helps. Also if you have a young child who is dyslexic, Orange, Pink and Green lenses can help them to read and concentrate better. Link 1, Link 2.

Share these links with someone who is affected by this type of problem! :)

HugZ!
Ariana

Thanks for the information, Ariana. When you say that you should be an arm's length away, what if you have really short arms? Just kidding. However, I am wondering if the size of the monitor would affect this measurement or not.

Also I have noticed that if I am really concentrating on something, sometimes I forget to blink which is something that will also cause eye irritation. Blink!

First let me address the dry eye issue. Use drops to moiturize your eyes, dry eyes can lead to vision issues and it is also a cause of fatigue. And dry eyes come with the territory when we use computers all the time you have to do a little bit extra to keep your eyes healthy.

Best distance for short arms or long arms, go by inches instead. 20-30 inches is considered computer distance. If you tend to lean back most of the time, go for the larger number. If you tend to lean in (*also causes your back to ache!) go for a smaller number. I would say a good median distance of 25 inches for nearly any woman will be just about perfect. Men are taller and that makes it a little different for them, but not a lot.

Monitor size should not be an issue, unless your monitor is a itty bitty! Mine is a small one of 12 X 15, and the large one is 15 X 19 (*diagonal). I also have a Hitachi CRT that I retired that was a 26 inch squared. But it is not energy efficient. So I switched to the two smaller monitors and really see no appreciable strain.

I have worn glasses both distance and reading my whole life. So computer glasses are not too much of a issue.  The one thing I would recommend, get a pair that is computer distance only. It helps a lot when you do rendering as you are viewing a large area of the screen, and progressives are so restrictive. I say go for comfort and do a dedicated pair. Opticians push progressives because there is more profit in them, not because they are better for you. Antireflective coating is great, it does have UV in it already, so don't let someone upsell you both UV AND Anti-Reflective coating! It does not double anything but the price. Anti-Reflective coating can cut glare, but while it looks good, it isn't as necessary on your home computer as it is in offices with flourescent lighting, or driving at night. At home UV by itself is fine.

Lastly, take breaks... yeah I don't either. But if your eyes ache and get dry... go for a 5 minute break every hour or two, take off your glasses and close your eyes for a few moments. Who knows an artistic epiphany could occur when you do! We all sit and stare at a blank screen every once in a while! So that few minutes off could make a big difference to 'artist block'. Plus getting up and moving keeps you alert.

HugZ!
Ariana

LOL, and here I thought staying up 24 hours at a time was what was causing the fatigue. = )

I just recently started using eye drops as it has only been recently that my eyes have been feeling dry. I am going to have to say that age may be a primary factor in the change. Sigh Not much I can do to change that. LOL

I measured the distance to my monitors (23 and 22" dual set up) and in leaning forward mode, it is about 26-27 inches. So I guess I am doing okay there.

I am well overdue for an eye exam, so maybe a change of glasses would help. Thanks for the informaiton about the anti-reflective coating!

Unless I get totally wrapped up in what I am doing, I do tend to take a lot of breaks as I generally cannot sit still for too long. However, sometimes when I am working on a project, I tend to lose myself in it. Maybe I should set an alarm clock.  At least I would get up to turn it off. LOL

Thanks again for  the info. It is very helpful.

Glad to help!

Being in nevada now the whole idea of computerized gaming is you tend to lose your sense of time more on a computer because it sort 'captures' your mind and next thing you know your on a machine 18 hours and $200.00 in the hole! LOL!

*shhhhh let's not discuss age..... o0

You a timer like a kitchen oven timer works great, usually set for 2 hours is a good break schedule.

HugZ!
Ariana

LOL, not the way I gamble. I take $20.00 to lose and sit at a blackjack table for at least half a night until I do lose it.

Why not discuss it? Aren't dry eyes common in 20-somethings? Put the calculator down! No need to divide how many times 20-something goes into my age.

Kitchen timer...good idea, but my alarm clock has a snooze button in case I want to get up in another 10 minutes. LOL

LOL!!! Snooze alarm does tend to defeat the whole purpose of a timer! I would be hitting that sucker two or ten times over! :P Oven alarm on mine you have to turn off manually or it keeps beeping! Just like my microwave does... hateful evil boxes from hell!

Ok, I have my share of "increments"! But damn I still look fine! o0

Hey I play BJ too! I have a few fav games that I play (*Lotus flower and Double Dinsaur. Oh and Pharoahs Fortune)) but only because where I live they don't have live gaming!!! Only machines. (*and I do generally win!) But they tourists that run through town, and I do mean run! You see them coming, making a bee line for a machine, and you best get out of their way or get run over! LOL! We get two sorts here, Seniors and Asian Travelers. No disrespect, but if they are asian and in nevada they have serious gambling on their minds!!! o0

HugZ!
Ariana

Quality Control for my snooze alarms includes testing with a jackhammer. I am a bit hard on them. However, I have learned to put my alarms at least 10 feet away from where I sleep. There is less chance of me turning them off by mistake rather than hitting snooze. LOL

The last time I looked in a mirror, I realized that I am starting to look like my mother. So I don't look in mirrors any more.

I have done my best to avoid Nevada for the past few years. I used to go out to play in the BCA (billiards) tournaments held in Las Vegas every year, but LV gives me a headache. Talk about eye strain! I never played the machines much when I was there as I prefered a human dealer and no arm muscles pulled. LOL

For what it is worth I use this free little program called Cook Timer.

Cook Timer

It counts down finishing with an alarm.  I use it all the time as I am being constantly told by the wife and kids whilst I'm on the computer not to forget to turn the oven on, pick me up from basketball, ring your mother for her birthday etc, you know all the less important things in life that take you away from the computer.

Thank you, keppel! This sounds perfect.

LOL, I have burnt more meals than I can count because I don't hear the timer go off. Now if I eat charcoal, it will have to be deliberate.

Hey great idea Keppel!!!

I am astounded!!! I shoot pool as well! Used to play smaller tournaments in the San Diego, L.A. & Anaheim area's! I am not too shabby either! You should send me a sitemail with your email and maybe we can hook up sometime in the future! Hopefully before December 21st! LOL! I do a lot of conventions in the N. California areas, as well sometimes Washington, and Oregon.

Yes I agree L.V. is definitely sensory over load!

Let me know! :D

HugZ!
Ariana

Just going to jump in here to say that I stopped wearing my glasses at the computer.  It's hard enough for me to even get glasses (last time I gave the optometrist a headache LOL).  I was told that I have a muscular degeneration in one eye that is usually caught as a child & I would need to see a child's specialist. But that's frankly not going to happen.  Then again I was also told my eye would get worse & begin wandering within a year & it's been 3. (i've always been a bit cross-eyed when reading, but over the last several years they cross when I'm tired, usually not noticeably but on occasion hubby will notice).

I've also had a few tell me I'm most likely better off without them as my right eye is so bad, close, distance, it doesn't matter I can't see clearly out of it & haven't for over 12 years.  They've told me the other eye does all the work I trying to retrain them will increase my headache severity & frequency.  However, I'm generally good after just a couple days.

Anyhoo, I stopped wearing them because they gave me bi-focals.  I don't mind that but I found that I got severe headaches wearing them at the computer.  I'm a "shifter"  I sit up, I peer in, I slouch back, I lean forward LOL.  I never knew where in my glasses I was supposed to look.

So I've decided to go back for a new exam (considering Gabriel also rand the office chair over my galsses...), ask which lense I should use for an arms length (I am generally an arms length away, except the occasional forward lean). Then I want that as a solid lens.  I've decide to see if I can get them in cats eye shape & have special spiffy computer nerd glasses LMAO.

That said, I didn't know that I could get a coating for the computer.  I have had anti-glare & I've had the ones that darken (though never dark enough for me, I'm very light sensitive).  So I'm assuming that the coating for a computer is different than anti-glare or the UV coating?

Hi 3D,

You need dedicated single vision computer distance and it sounds like you have multiple issues that could require a lense called "slab-off" that is when one eye is near sighted, while the other is far sighted. And the issue you also describe is called "Macular Degeneration". In a word you are losing your sight. This is a disease not a fact of age.

Anti-glare is actually anti-reflective coating and it does have UV. Or just a pair with UV coating would work too. You should check with a Othamologist on you vision. Sometimes surgery is in order for certain diseases.

Hope this helps.

Ariana

No it wasn't Macular Degeneration I don't think, my mother has that I would have remembered it.  They said it's not usually seen in adults because it's usually found & corrected in children, hence I would have needed to see a pediatric opthamologist.  She told me that in some cases adults develop it but it doesn't occur that often & so those adults that do are sent to a pediatric opthamalogist for full diagnosis & surgery.

But yeah, my eyes are a mess LOL.  My glasses have had prisms in them all my life as well.  Until the last 5 years my right eye was always fuzzy but my left lens was just glass with the prism as it was considered to be fine.  I still see exceptionally clearly out of my left eye but I think it had a very slight prescription in it last time.

I have no doubt I am losing my vision, particularly in my right eye - eventually I will have to retire from this field.  I've decided when that happens I'll take up fingerpainting LOL.

Anyhow, so the UV glare works the same as the coating you were talking about for computers?  Good, because I am planning to go in soon & I want to make sure that they are as good as possible for working with.

I'm also planning a new computer, an all-in-one with a touch monitor, hopefully by next Spring,  the monitor is much larger as well.  I see mine fine, but I do want a larger one for the future, as a precaution.

Even though if it is a childs disease, an adult Opthamologist should be able to treat. [

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/muscular+degeneration

](http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/muscular+degeneration)I do feel your pain. It seems to be rare because I never had heard of it until you mentioned it. I wonder if this is simuliar to my husband's lazy eye issue...? Something for me to check out.

The fact that you know the term 'Prism', and have had to live with it, should make everyone understand just how difficult it is to see for you. I am sorry. But maybe with the new technology with corneal implants and who knows even bio-mechanical eyes that could lie in our future, you might be able to forego finger painting! I would recommend full nude body rolling, more money in that! ;) LOL!!!

Yes, you will be good with either Anti-Reflecting coating, or just straight UV. One thing. Bifocals are not good for a lot of people, and in your case putting you in  a bifocal is just plain cruel! Like you don't have enough to adjust to already!!!

By the way, there is also a magnifying screen you can attatch to your monitor face available for the visually impaired too!
Link> ONE  & TWO  & Microsoft Info

Hope those help you out! :)

HugZ!
Ariana

Well that would explain why the bi-focals caused me such aggravation.  It seemed I was never looking through them quite right but particularly noticeable at the computer.  Since I'm at the computer most of the day that is a huge problem for me.

I'd honestly rather just switch my glasses around then have bi-focals. I'll be that crazy old lady with glasses on strings around my neck.  I'll make them different colours for what I need them for.

I'll be soo sexy!  LMBO.

ROFLOL!!!
(*don't forget the nude body rolling!)

OK, here's an optician joke!

Imagine a pissed off looking old woman at the counter in her optician's office....

Caption:

"Well Mrs. Smith, if we fire the optician, give you free glasses, and burn down the store... THEN will you be happy?"

o0 Yep it is like that! LOL!!!

Ariana