Closing Eyes with Artificial Tears: A Simple and Effective Strategy to Combat Screen-related Asthenopia and Dry Eye Symptoms

Overview

Journal Adv Ophthalmol Pract Res

Specialty Ophthalmology

Date 2025 Feb 19

PMID 39967760

Authors

Ning Wang

Jinjin Min

Xiaojing Fan

Xiuming Jin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: The widespread use of various video display terminals (VDTs) always had a detrimental impact on ocular health. Prolonged use of smartphones has been one of the leading causes of dry eye (DE) and asthenopia. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to find a simple and effective strategy to combat screen-related DE and asthenopia.

Methods: A group of healthy participants aged 18 and above were randomly assigned to three groups and tasked with a 2 h smartphone reading task. After 1 h of usage, each group adopted different methods of rest: no rest (Group A), a 10 min eye-closed rest (Group B), or a 10 min eye-closed joint artificial tears rest (Group C). Ophthalmological examinations and questionnaires were administered to all participants before and after the 2 h reading task.

Results: 90 qualified volunteers, including 29 males and 61 females, were randomly assigned to three groups. Group A demonstrated a significant increase in the severity of DE and asthenopia as evidenced by all the evaluated indices. On the other hand, Group C did not exhibit any notable change in DE and asthenopia symptoms, with an improvement in corneal fluorescein staining (CFS) results ( > 0.05) when compared to the pre-reading values. Group B showed a significant increase in ocular surface disease index (OSDI) ( ≤ 0.05) and a decrease in critical flicker frequency (CFF) ( ≤ 0.05).

Conclusions: Close-eye rest with artificial tears may be a convenient and effective prevention strategy for screen-related DE and asthenopia.

References

Montes-Mico R, Cervino A, Ferrer-Blasco T, Garcia-Lazaro S, Orti-Navarro S . Optical quality after instillation of eyedrops in dry-eye syndrome. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2010; 36(6):935-40. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrs.2009.12.044. View

Diaz-Valle D, Arriola-Villalobos P, Garcia-Vidal S, Sanchez-Pulgarin M, Borrego Sanz L, Gegundez-Fernandez J . Effect of lubricating eyedrops on ocular light scattering as a measure of vision quality in patients with dry eye. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2012; 38(7):1192-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrs.2012.02.040. View

Ranasinghe P, Wathurapatha W, Perera Y, Lamabadusuriya D, Kulatunga S, Jayawardana N . Computer vision syndrome among computer office workers in a developing country: an evaluation of prevalence and risk factors. BMC Res Notes. 2016; 9:150. PMC: 4784392. DOI: 10.1186/s13104-016-1962-1. View

Reddy S, Low C, Lim Y, Low L, Mardina F, Nursaleha M . Computer vision syndrome: a study of knowledge and practices in university students. Nepal J Ophthalmol. 2013; 5(2):161-8. DOI: 10.3126/nepjoph.v5i2.8707. View

Gagliano C, Papa V, Amato R, Malaguarnera G, Avitabile T . Measurement of the Retention Time of Different Ophthalmic Formulations with Ultrahigh-Resolution Optical Coherence Tomography. Curr Eye Res. 2017; 43(4):499-502. DOI: 10.1080/02713683.2017.1418893. View

Yokoi N, Uchino M, Uchino Y, Dogru M, Kawashima M, Komuro A . Importance of tear film instability in dry eye disease in office workers using visual display terminals: the Osaka study. Am J Ophthalmol. 2015; 159(4):748-54. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajo.2014.12.019. View

Rider A, Henning G, Stockman A . A reinterpretation of critical flicker-frequency (CFF) data reveals key details about light adaptation and normal and abnormal visual processing. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2021; 87:101001. DOI: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2021.101001. View

Shantakumari N, Eldeeb R, Sreedharan J, Gopal K . Computer use and vision-related problems among university students in ajman, United arab emirate. Ann Med Health Sci Res. 2014; 4(2):258-63. PMC: 3991951. DOI: 10.4103/2141-9248.129058. View

Baratta R, Schlumpf E, Del Buono B, DeLorey S, Calkins D . Corneal collagen as a potential therapeutic target in dry eye disease. Surv Ophthalmol. 2021; 67(1):60-67. DOI: 10.1016/j.survophthal.2021.04.006. View

10.

Hirayama M, Murat D, Liu Y, Kojima T, Kawakita T, Tsubota K . Efficacy of a novel moist cool air device in office workers with dry eye disease. Acta Ophthalmol. 2013; 91(8):756-62. DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2012.02485.x. View

11.

Argiles M, Cardona G, Perez-Cabre E, Rodriguez M . Blink Rate and Incomplete Blinks in Six Different Controlled Hard-Copy and Electronic Reading Conditions. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2015; 56(11):6679-85. DOI: 10.1167/iovs.15-16967. View

12.

Tsubota K, Yokoi N, Shimazaki J, Watanabe H, Dogru M, Yamada M . New Perspectives on Dry Eye Definition and Diagnosis: A Consensus Report by the Asia Dry Eye Society. Ocul Surf. 2016; 15(1):65-76. DOI: 10.1016/j.jtos.2016.09.003. View

13.

Kozeis N . Impact of computer use on children's vision. Hippokratia. 2009; 13(4):230-1. PMC: 2776336. View

14.

Tang N, Tang L, Lyu J, Jiang X, Li Y, Ding C . Effect of Acupuncture on Tear Proteomics in Patients with Video Display Terminal-Related Dry Eye. J Proteome Res. 2024; 23(6):2206-2218. PMC: 11165574. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.4c00134. View

15.

Urtti A . Challenges and obstacles of ocular pharmacokinetics and drug delivery. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2006; 58(11):1131-5. DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2006.07.027. View

16.

Bali J, Navin N, Thakur B . Computer vision syndrome: a study of the knowledge, attitudes and practices in Indian ophthalmologists. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2007; 55(4):289-94. DOI: 10.4103/0301-4738.33042. View

17.

Al Tawil L, Aldokhayel S, Zeitouni L, Qadoumi T, Hussein S, Ahamed S . Prevalence of self-reported computer vision syndrome symptoms and its associated factors among university students. Eur J Ophthalmol. 2018; 30(1):189-195. DOI: 10.1177/1120672118815110. View

18.

Izquierdo J, Garcia M, Buxo C, Izquierdo N . Factors leading to the computer vision syndrome: an issue at the contemporary workplace. Bol Asoc Med P R. 2007; 99(1):21-8. View

19.

Lee J, Kim S, Lee S, Kim H, Ahn H, Li Z . Blue light-induced oxidative stress in human corneal epithelial cells: protective effects of ethanol extracts of various medicinal plant mixtures. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2014; 55(7):4119-27. DOI: 10.1167/iovs.13-13441. View

20.

Trancoso Vaz F, Henriques S, Silva D, Roque J, Lopes A, Mota M . Digital Asthenopia: Portuguese Group of Ergophthalmology Survey. Acta Med Port. 2019; 32(4):260-265. DOI: 10.20344/amp.10942. View