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One-fourth of contact lens wearers concerned about digital screen usage

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LAS VEGAS – Only 6% of U.S. consumers reported that they had spoken with an eye care professional about the amount of time they use digital devices, according to a new study commissioned by CooperVision and shared here at Vision Expo West.

The studied revealed that while an increased use of digital device screens may pose vision challenges, only a fraction of eye care providers are talking about these issues to patients.

The study, which surveyed 1,129 adults over the age of 18 years, illustrated terms used by consumers to describe how their eyes feel after long periods of time staring at digital devices: tired (60%), dry (18%), blurry (17%) and strained (9%).

Additional words, to a lesser extent, included fatigued, cloudy, scratchy, heavy, burning and irritated. With 57 separate words or phrases reported in total, this points to a broad group of indicators that is dependent upon each person, according to a press release.

Among all surveyed adults, 16% report being concerned about the amount of time spent looking at screens in an average day, which increased to 25% among contact lens wearers.

A portion of consumers are practicing good habits when they feel the effects of screen use, including taking a break for a few minutes (74%), closing their eyes for a few minutes (48%) and looking away for a few seconds (40%).

Michele Andrews, OD, director of professional affairs, North America, CooperVision, told Primary Care Optometry News in an interview here at Vision Expo that this survey was commissioned as a follow-up to last summer’s launch of Biofinity Energys with Digital Zone Optics lens, a contact lens specifically created for digital lifestyles.

“While only 6% are talking to optometrists about this, 60% say they want to know more,” Andrews said.

“This speaks to a bigger issue,” she continued. “There’s a lot of room for eye care providers to discuss this with patients. Ask open-ended questions.” – by Abigail Sutton and Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO