Eye drops for computer users

If you work at a computer, your eyes can feel dry by mid-afternoon because you blink less while concentrating on a screen. Lubricating drops are one part of the answer: Quell’s directions read Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye, which fits neatly into a workday as a morning, midday and late-afternoon drop. Desk setup and regular breaks do the rest.

Eye drops for computer users: building them into a workday

The label sets how many drops you use, not when. Tying each one to something you already do every workday is the easiest way to remember them. One schedule that suits an office job:

• Morning: after you sit down and before you open your inbox. Your eyes start the day at their freshest, and the first hour of email is often the most intense screen time.
• Midday: when you step away for lunch. Using a drop away from the desk gives your eyes a minute to settle before you look at a screen again.
• Late afternoon: around 3 or 4 o’clock, when the long stretch of meetings and spreadsheets tends to catch up with people.

If you work remotely, attach the drops to fixed points in your home routine instead, like the first coffee, the lunch break and the school pickup. A simple eye drop log helps for the first couple of weeks, until the habit sticks.

Where to put the monitor

The American Academy of Ophthalmology advises adjusting your screen so that your eyes gaze slightly downward. Looking down means your eyelids cover more of the eye, and less of its surface is exposed to the air. Practically, that puts the top edge of the monitor at or a little below eye level.

• On a laptop, a stand plus a separate keyboard lets you raise the screen without hunching.
• With two monitors, put the one you use most directly in front of you, so you aren’t holding your head turned for hours.
• Cut glare: windows behind you reflect off the screen, and you’ll squint into it without noticing. Turn the desk or close a blind.
• Bump up the text size. If you lean in to read, the screen is too small or too far for the font you’re using.

The 20-20-20 habit

The American Academy of Ophthalmology’s guidance on eye strain says that every 20 minutes you should shift your eyes to look at something at least 20 feet away, for at least 20 seconds. A window works well; so does the far wall of an open-plan office. Many people set a recurring timer, or tie the habit to something that already happens often, like sending a message or finishing a spreadsheet tab.

While you’re looking away, blink a few times on purpose. Full blinks spread the tear film across the eye in a way the quick half-blinks you make while typing don’t.

Eye drops for screen strain vs. screen habits

Strain and dryness overlap but aren’t the same thing. Tired, achy eyes after a long day of close focus are partly about the focusing muscles, which breaks address. Dry, gritty or burning eyes are about the tear film evaporating, which is where a lubricating drop fits. Quell is designed to reinforce the tear film’s oil layer to help reduce moisture loss; the tear film’s oil layer explains why that layer matters.

Neither drops nor breaks fix a prescription that’s out of date. If you’re squinting at the screen or the text looks soft, an eye exam is the next step, and you can say you spend most of the day at a computer so the eye doctor can account for that distance.

Eye drops for computer screen use at the desk

Keeping the bottle in a desk drawer is fine as long as the office stays within the label’s range: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A drawer is better than the desktop by a sunny window or under a heater. Before each drop, wash your hands; keyboards and mice collect more than most people realize. Then: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

Quell may blur your view briefly, so wait a moment before you look back at the screen and keep typing.

Eye drops for screen time on top of the workday

Many people finish eight hours at a computer and then spend the evening on a phone or tablet. The label still allows three drops in total, not three per screen. If your eyes feel dry well into the evening on a regular basis, it’s worth mentioning to an eye doctor rather than stretching the directions.

When it’s more than a long day at the screen

Screens explain a lot of end-of-day dryness, not all of it. If the discomfort continues on weekends away from a computer, or your vision changes, stop and get it checked. The label says: Stop use and ask a doctor if you feel eye pain or changes in your vision, if irritation or redness continues, or if the condition worsens or persists for 72 hours. Eye symptoms that need a doctor lists what to watch for.