Nearly every waking hour, Zach Hansen stares at an electronic screen.
Two wide-screen computers in his Castle Rock apartment are overshadowed by a wide- screen TV on the living-room wall tuned to ESPN. Between home and work in Lone Tree, he scans his iPhone. As a technology specialist for the parent company of the University of Phoenix, he sits surrounded by four more computer screens. Walking around the office building, he sports an iPad.
When he’s not using his own electronics, he’s troubleshooting the new Kindles, Nooks, Android phones and MacBooks of thousands of Phoenix students. At night, when it’s too cold or dark to fly-fish, his release is . . . video games.
Technology has given Hansen a great job and a rich life. It has also made his eyes very sore.
“It seemed like I could never put enough eye drops in them,” Hansen said.
With millions of new iPhones, iPads, Androids and e-readers arriving in consumers’ hands for Christmas, eyestrain is a growing complaint. Redness, dry eyes, squinting, headaches, sore necks — a technology-addicted society is becoming hypochondriacal over electronics.
The response from professionals is simple: Stop worrying. Start blinking.
All of the eye specialists contacted by The Denver Post said there is no evidence of long- term eye damage from long hours spent looking at screens, whether a new Kindle or an old video game.
Any short-term eyestrain almost always starts with dry eyes, they added, a condition exacerbated by Colorado’s arid climate. Studies that use cameras pointed at the faces of computer users have proved it: Concentrating on the screen can drastically slow the blinking rate of the user.
Blink, enjoy bigger type on devices
Dr. Michael Miller, an ophthalmologist in private practice and at Porter Adventist Hospital, likened it to a dirty car windshield. Turn on the wipers by blinking, toss on some spray in the form of artificial tears if necessary, and the problem is solved.
The doctors actually see an upside to e-reader devices because they bring the written word to more and more disabled readers. And the beauty of an e-reader is that a larger, more relaxing font size is just a few clicks away.
“Bigger is always better,” Miller said.
Self-diagnosis can be complicated by underlying health problems, such as stress or fatigue.
“The amount of ‘strain’ is very subjective and very hard to quantify,” said Dr. Richard Davidson, associate professor at the Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Institute of the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
“Eyestrain is a nonmedical term,” said Colorado Springs ophthalmologist Ronald Pelton. “It means whatever people want it to mean.”
And everyone seems to have a different screen problem, he added. Pelton himself doesn’t get tired eyes when using the Kindle app on his iPhone but does on his desktop computer.
Find whatever works for you
“No one has ever shown any harmful effects of the machines in and of themselves,” Pelton said.
” ‘Don’t sit too close to the TV’ was advice that was completely false,” added Denver ophthalmologist Curtis Hagedorn. His practice has many retina-damaged patients who are “benefiting immensely from these devices.”
Hansen’s solution may not be in the medical books, but it helps, and in that sense, doctors endorse it under the “it works for him” treatment.
He learned of yellow-tinted glasses that other gamers swore cut down on glare and general fatigue. Now he happily, knowingly, dorkily wears them indoors for most of his computing.
“Diffraction happens,” shrugged Hagedorn. “If it’s a glare issue,” the glasses “could be good.”
More common advice from the doctors, in addition to increased blinking and artificial tears, includes periodic breaks to look or walk away from screens, which breaks concentration and therefore prompts blinking; and adjusting office or home ergonomics to reduce stress and fatigue.
Hansen gets a slight magnification from the yellow-tinted glasses, another bonus, and the filtering makes his game colors more vibrant.
“Sure, I have to wear yellow glasses at work, but I’d rather have my eye health at the end of the day than look cool while sitting at a computer,” he laughed.
Michael Booth: 303-954-1686 or mbooth@denverpost.com
