Do contact lenses provide protection against UV rays?

Several brands of contact lenses are built with UV protection. Keep in mind, however, that contact lenses only cover the center of the eye and not the surrounding areas, such as the conjunctiva or eyelids. It is still best to wear sunglasses. Depending on your environment, wearing contact lenses for too long outdoors may irritate your eyes more than usual, especially if you are in a dry, hot, and/or windy area.Several brands of contact lenses are built with UV protection. Keep in mind, however, that contact lenses only cover the center of the eye and not the surrounding areas, such as the conjunctiva or eyelids. It is still best to wear sunglasses. Depending on your environment, wearing contact lenses for too long outdoors may irritate your eyes more than usual, especially if you are in a dry, hot, and/or windy area.

Progressive contact lenses – more than one power in the lens

Presbyopia is a condition that affects almost all of us as we get older. We need progressive lenses which offer support at near, far and everything in-between. Here contact lenses, in this case progressive or multifocal contact lenses, may also be a good solution. Various versions are available. The simplest solution is by combining contact lenses for distance vision with reading glasses. Or by using the monovision method in which one eye is corrected by a contact lens for near vision and the other eye for far. Habit and the brain do the rest. However, your three-dimensional vision may suffer slightly, and the difference between vision with your right and left eyes must not be too great.

The 'simultaneous system' is based on contact lenses which combine the individual powers for near and distance vision in a single lens on an alternating basis. Different designs are used. The two powers for near and far are always arranged in circular rings on the progressive contact lens. There are designs where the distance range is in the middle and the near zone is outside. There are even lenses with a ring for the transitional zone in-between or with powers that alternate ring by ring. Both powers are perceived at the same time. Our brain gets used to seeing the "right" image up close and far away.

Contact lenses overnight – what do the experts say?

There are nights that simply weren't meant for sleeping! And that's when we tend to forget that we are still wearing our contacts. Where on earth are we supposed to put them during a long night at a party? Even in situations like these, please try to think of your eyes and the next day. On days – or rather nights –like these, the best option is to use dailies. And, of course, they require the same thorough washing of your hands to prevent infection. However, dirt and loss are not major issues with dailies. They are simply disposed of after wear and do not have to be disinfected. Afterwards, fashionable glasses with attractively thin lenses can be real eye-catchers. It's the mix between glasses and contacts that does it!

Coloured contacts for special occasions

Coloured contacts are a real hit - with or without a prescription power. Would you like to attract attention with your piercing blue eyes at a special event, or steal the show at a dinner party with your seductively green eyes that perfectly match your head-turning evening dress? Or put the finishing touch to your Halloween disguise with sinister cat's eyes? It's all possible with contact lenses. Be bold - try them for yourself! Eyes sometimes say more than a thousand words. The same care has to be taken with coloured as with clear contact lenses: thorough cleaning with suitable cleaning agents is vital to ensure healthy eyes.

How long should contact lenses be worn for? What's good for your eyes?

Contact lenses just shouldn't be worn 24/7. Give your eyes a break – and some fresh air. Experts generally advise against wearing contact lenses for longer than eight hours.

However, there is no definite rule, as the wearing time depends on each individual wearer and on the type and quality of the contact lenses. Make sure you observe the specified wearing time, cleaning instructions and expiry date to ensure that your lenses don't irritate your eyes. And it's best to also check the oxygen permeability of the contact lenses before buying them, as among others this is decisive for the wearing time. This is indicated by the Dk value (relative dielectric constant). This is influenced by the material and to some extent also by the temperature of a contact lens. Please ask your optician for advice.

Permanent contact lenses have been developed for people who are allergic to contact lens solutions. Clarify with your optician if these are suitable for you – after all, you will wear them non-stop for 30 days, also at night. There isn't even any need to remove them intermittently for cleaning and disinfection.

If your eyes show any signs of inflammation or irritation or if you experience pain, take your contacts out and use your glasses. Do the same if you have a high temperature or a bad cold. On recovery from an illness, it is important to ask your doctor whether you can continue to wear the same contact lenses or if you should discard them just to be on the safe side. This is particularly important for monthlies or 6 month replacement.

Can long-term exposure to the sun damage your eyes?

Absolutely. The most common eye problems related to sun exposure are cataracts and macular degeneration. While cataracts can be removed with surgery, macular degeneration is permanent and often quite debilitating. In addition, the skin around the eye is susceptible to skin cancer, so it is important to wear sun protection whenever possible. In contrast, even brief sungazing can cause permanent vision impairment, so never look directly at the sun!

What are symptoms of eye allergies and the best way to treat them?

Itching, swelling, redness, irritation, tearing, and blurry vision are all symptoms of eye allergies. If you know you have seasonal eye allergies and have been examined before, you can use over-the-counter, preservative-free, artificial tear eye drops found at most drug stores. Cool compresses are helpful to reduce swelling and the urge to itch. Some over-the-counter allergy medications exist, but you should always be examined by a professional first to determine the best way to treat your allergies.

Should my children get their eyes checked before they go back to school?

Of course. In Illinois, children are required to have an eye exam prior to their first year of school to ensure they have the vision they need to succeed in the classroom. Pediatric eye exams not only assess visual acuity, but also evaluate binocular vision skills and eye health to make sure your child is able to manage the increasing visual demands of each academic year.

Dry eyes

Long stretches of screen time also lead to the eyes getting dry and irritated. Studies show that people blink significantly less often when concentrating on a digital screen, which can leave eyes dry and irritated. “The problem can be worse for children who look up at a screen that is positioned for adult use resulting in wide-open eyes—speeding up the evaporation of the eye’s tear film,” adds Dr. Kulenur.

While all this might sound scary, Dr. Kulenur mentions there are small changes that parents can implement to ensure good eye care.

Caring for your child’s eyes during online classes and screen time?

Education is changing, learning is moving from the classrooms to the online world. This means that children and young adults are having to put in many more hours in front of the screens than they ought to and unfortunately have no other option. I am often asked this question by parents, how can we care for our children’s eyes when they are spending excessive time in front of screens? or how to protect my child’s eyes during prolonged screen time? This is a very valid concern and I will try and address this here.

The first aspect to look at is why are screens harmful for eyes? The answer to this is multifactorial. Firstly, most people use smartphones and tablets, both of which amount to near tasks. In children, it has been seen that prolonged near tasks can cause an increase in myopia (near sightedness). The second factor is that when we are watching screens, our eyes are focussed at a fixed distance for a long time. While in everyday life we are focusing at objects at near or intermediate or far distance, and our focus keeps changing, when watching a screen, everything is happening at a fixed distance. This can cause eye muscle fatigue and weakness. Thirdly, when watching a screen, we get very engrossed in the moment and forget to blink enough. This is particularly true for children and it causes the eyes to become dry and then reflex watering to start. Fourthly, the blue light coming from a screen can cause harm to the retina, particularly when the screen is being seen in a dark room. This has the potential to cause macular degeneration. There are certain non-ophthalmic effects of screen time to such as reduced attention span, hyperactivity, cervical spondylosis etcetera which are undesirable in both children and adults.

Keeping these points in view, the next aspect to this query is how much screen time is acceptable for children and how much screen time is too much? This does not have a straight forward answer. Actually, there is no exact definition of recommended screen time, in fact in one way the ideal screen time is zero but that is not practical in today’s world. Keeping this in mind, a general guideline that we can follow is that for toddlers you want to keep screen time as low as possible but try not to exceed 20-40 minutes in a day with never more than 20 minutes at a stretch. For children in early learning classes or ages 3-5 years, 1 hour should be the limit, in 3 stretches of 20 minutes each. For children in the age group of 5-15 years, screen time may be further increased beyond 1 hour to as minimum as required for education and basic entertainment. For individuals aged 16 years or above, no such limit exists but any unnecessary screen time should be avoided particularly if symptoms of headache, watering, eye strain or fatigue exist.

While the above guidelines are not sacrosanct and only indicative, it seems that many times these are exceeded with education in schools shifting online. However there is no need to worry too much and with the basic precautions and tips that I will discuss here, most adverse effects of screen time will be averted. I am breaking up my advice into 7 tips for healthy eyesight.

# Tip 1: Wear Glasses, if prescribed

If your child has been prescribed glasses by an ophthalmologist, then ensure that he or she wears them all the time, including when watching screens. There is usually no good alternative to glasses and even contact lenses are not best suited for prolonged screen time. Regular and constant use of glasses will go a long way to reduce eye strain. In case your child does not have a refractive error or weak eyes and does not need glasses, there is no need to get special anti-glare glasses made for him or her as their screen time is unlikely to be that prolonged anyways.

#Tip 2: Always watch screens in a well lit room and choose the screen wisely

It is recommended that screens be watched in a well lit room to reduce eye strain. Generally, the brightness level on a monitor or screen should be kept around the middle at a moderate brightness setting and the same should be viewed in a room with adequate lighting. Watching screens in a dimly lit room lead to increased eye strain and risk of retinal damage. Another point to note with regard to screens is that if having a choice, it is better to let your child use a laptop or tablet at medium range of 50 cms rather than a smartphone at 33 cms.

#Tip 3: Frequent eye blinking

There is a tendency to get engrossed when watching screens and children often tend to forget to blink. This would result in watering of eyes, abnormal blink patterns, forceful blinking or eye rubbing. These are all a result of the dry eyes caused by the lack of adequate blinking and this is worse in air conditioned rooms. We must remind our children and ourselves to blink consciously when in front of screens to ensure strain free viewing.

#Tip 4: Take regular breaks

It is very important to take regular breaks from screens, both for the eyes and for the body. Ideally, we should follow the 20-20-20 rule which states that every 20 minutes we should look away from the screen for 20 seconds at an object 20 feet away. These short breaks give our eyes a chance to change focus to a faraway object and also help the neck muscles relax. If we regularly follow this process then we can avoid eye fatigue despite spending the whole day in front of a screen. It is quite possible that the duration of online classes is longer than 20 minutes hence this rule can’t be exactly followed but in such a case, a break should be taken as soon as a session ends or whenever convenient within the session. Most online courses and classes are not designed to be of durations longer than 20-40 minutes and this rule can be practiced.

#Tip 5: Minimise screen time to what is essential

We need to use screens for various purposes such as work, education, entertainment and social connections. Of these, many things can be done by alternate means. Therefore, the use of screens should be kept to a minimum and for only the most necessary. Wherever possible, avoid. As parents, if we are glued to the television of smartphone, then it is only natural for the child to want to use these devices. We can’t expect to spend time of screens while the child does reading or other less fun tasks.

# Tip 6: Spend time outdoors

Outdoor activities have been one of the only proven protective factors for myopia (near-sightedness). In studies from around the world, particularly Singapore, it has been found that children who spend more times outdoors tend to have lesser progression of myopia. Thus, it is very important for the child to spend time outdoors, gazing at far distant objects. Time outdoors in the sun is helpful for the overall health of the body too with increase in vitamin D production, enhancement of immunity and emotional well-being.

# Tip 7: Good diet

A good balanced diet is extremely important for all of us and more so for children. While there is no doubt that all vitamins and micronutrients are important for the body, certain ones are particularly important for the eyes. These include vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, Zeaanthin and omega fatty acids. These are naturally found in diet in carrots, beetroot, mango, papaya, citrus fruits, amla, green leafy vegetables, almonds, walnuts, eggs, fish etc. It is best to try and have the child eat these vitamins in a natural form rather than having to give supplements. A thing to remember though is that there is no direct correlation between eyesight and diet and poor eyesight is generally not due to dietary deficiency unless it is in a very malnourished child. So, I hope these tips help you look after your child’s eyes. We need to get used to the use of technology in education and there is no running away from the fact that screen time is only going to rise further in the times to come. SO we should all make best use of the time in fromt of our screens and teach the child to do the same too.

Myopia

Looking continuously at the computer screen and other screens may increase the chances of developing nearsightedness or myopia, which is a type of refractive error where you see blurred images as your eyes do not bend light correctly. “Studies have shown that if children spend more time playing outside, it just might result in healthier vision development in children,” says Dr. Kulenur.

Blurry vision/Accommodation spasm

Gazing at the same distance for an extended time can cause the focusing system of eyes to temporarily spasm. This condition causes a child’s vision to blur when they look away from the screen,” says Dr. Kulenur.