When tears are good for the eye

Our tears are worth a lot more than one could possibly imagine. Take the case of an IT professional or anyone using computers all day. The long and strenuous hours spent staring at a screen can get  tiresome on the eyes, spots may start appearing from nowhere and appear foreign to the eyes, headaches start occurring and all this because while we are concentrating on the screen in front of us, we forget to blink and the side effects of that can take its toll on the eyes.

An ophthalmologist from Coimbatore, Dr Chitra opens up about strain that people who stare at computer monitors all day saying, “What people fail to realise is that gazing at a computer screen all day strains the eye muscles and tear drop cover that acts as a shield or a protective layer over the eye. People do not realise that while concentrating on work, they forget to blink, which, in turn, results in the protective tear drops drying out, and to make things worse is that fact that they are normally within an air conditioned space that dries up this protective layer even more quickly,” says  Dr R. Chitra, Medical Director of Eye Foundation, Coimbatore.

She points out that the muscles in the eye need some time to relax. “All one has to do is to turn away from the screen, stare out into the distance.  The muscles in the eye are strained when they focus on something; staring into an infinite distance relaxes them.”

Tear drop evaporation can be alleviated through some simple remedies, such as an orthoptic examination if the headaches get bad, or alien spots start popping up in the vision. The simple tests include muscle balance in the eye test, near vision and near point of observation, for the doctor to know what the patient’s difficulty is.

Dr Chitra explains that if a patient is treated early enough, there will be no need  for a tear drop supplement. There are simple exercises that one can do at work or at home to keep vision intact and ensure that the reserve tear drops in the eyes are well within the limit. For people with refractive errors in the eyes, evaluation is very important, but thanks to modern technology, lenses can be inserted directly into the eye after a thorough check up of their eye sight, which does have its own pluses, especially since youngsters who worry about their looks don’t like to sport spectacles.