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It doesn’t take much. A later than usual night out, a high pollen count, or an episode of “This Is Us” can produce that raccoon eye look or bags under your peepers.
You can certainly embrace the bags And as you follow our guide, you’ll discover some people are just naturally predisposed to this look. Word on the street: A little shadow and swell is the new sexy.
But if you do have a reason to brighten up your skin and reduce puffiness, we have some remedies for you.
You don’t need to spend a fortune on a skin care regimen to erase rings or pouches. You can find remedies in your pantry, refrigerator, and right at your fingertips.
For dark circles, the caffeine in black or green tea may help narrow blood vessels and reduce blue coloring. These caffeinated teas can also banish bloat by drawing out fluid.
But if you’re going for a more soothing effect for irritated skin, opt for rooibos (red tea) or chamomile.
Instructions:
Your cold brew might give you a refreshing jolt, but a caffeine fix for the skin can also help calm blotchiness or swelling.
Start by freezing some brewed coffee in an ice cube tray. Once the coffee ice is ready, spend a few minutes gently rubbing an ice cube:
You can also try 100% Pure Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream. This product earns 4.5 stars from reviewers who say it can help treat crow’s feet and keep eyes moisturized.
Cucumbers are high in vitamin C and folic acid, an ingredient combo that helps stimulate cell growth and counter environmental stress. The end result? Less irritation and puffiness, as well as reduced discoloration under your eyes.
Instructions:
You can also try Yes to Cucumbers Soothing Eye Gel. Reviews suggest this gel may be a bit harsh for folks with sensitive skin, but they also note it works more effectively than pricier creams.
By tapping your index and middle fingers in a gentle circle around your sockets and across your brows and cheekbones, you can enhance lymph drainage. This may help even out skin tone and reduce inflammation.
Instructions:
Do you need to spend a lot of cash on a fancy balm? For dark circles, the short answer is no.
You could, however, try more budget-friendly moisturizing salves with tea, coffee, or cucumber extract — some products might also help minimize the appearance of fine lines and creases.
One option to consider? SheaMoisture Matcha Green Tea & Probiotics Soothing Eye Cream.
Ingredients for your eyesBe sure to read labels carefully before picking up pricey jars. We asked Dr. Rebecca Marcus, a board certified dermatologist in North Dallas, TX, about her favorite ingredients for eyes.
She recommends keeping an “eye” out for the following:
- Caffeine. The benefits of caffeine are worth repeating. Caffeine, as Marcus explains, works in eye creams to combat dark circles and puffiness by temporarily reducing blood flow to the area.
- Retinol and peptides. You might already have some familiarity with these skin care ingredients. Marcus says they help stimulate collagen and thicken the skin, making underlying blood vessels less noticeable and restoring skin firmness.
- Niacinamide. A little of this skin-brightening ingredient can go a long way toward waking up tired eyes. This ingredient, a form of vitamin B-3, offers plenty of other benefits, too.
- Hyaluronic acid. Marcus notes that this moisturizing ingredient can hydrate the skin and offer pro-aging support by smoothing the look of fine lines and crepey skin.
- Vitamin K. Marcus says this antioxidant has anti-inflammatory properties and may help improve circulation.
As for products, Marcus recommends:
Explore more eye creams at varying price points here.
Under-eye patches are a newer trend for pampering the skin around your eyes. Yes, they’re cute and Instagram-friendly, but many people also find them effective, too.
Just know they offer more of a quick fix — a helping hand after a spirited night out, if you will.
Not sure how to pick your patch? Opt for eye-friendly ingredients, like retinol and hyaluronic acid. You can also check out our list of the best options to send your bags packing.
Marcus explains that concealers only help camouflage dark circles. In other words, they won’t help reduce puffiness.
That’s why she recommends using an eye cream with a concealer: Apply an eye cream to help treat the cause and the symptoms, then use concealer to address any lingering darkness.
“Concealer will apply more smoothly onto hydrated skin,” she notes. “So, applying a hydrating eye cream helps prime the skin for concealer application. ”
When you’re in a pinch, concealer alone can still make a difference. So, when that important meeting or event sneaks up on you, reach for a little color-correcting concealer.
Try:
The biggest answer to this, especially for those of you who have tried every trick in the book, is genetics.
If you’ve always had sunken eyes or dark circles, also called periorbital hyperpigmentation, the condition could be a part of your genetics. Likewise, permanent under-eye pouches may be a facial feature you’ve inherited.
Here’s why these attributes get accentuated.
Puffy lower lids or bags happen when the tissue there fills with water. As you age, the fatty tissue held within the socket and upper lid can fall, causing even more fluid retention in that area.
Puffiness is often most prominent when taking the morning’s first look in the mirror. That’s because fluid had a chance to pool during sleep. Bags tend to diminish after you’ve been vertical for a bit.
Although dark circles can show up for many reasons, most people tend to have a slightly deeper coloring around the eyes, simply because the thinner skin there stretches over a conglomeration of purple vessels and muscle.
By isolating the cause, you can take measures to reduce the prominence of purpling and pooching.
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Cut that late-night Netflix binge short, or do whatever possible to get a few more Zzz’s. If you still notice the a.m. eye bloat or blue coloring, prop your head slightly while you sleep.
As Marcus explains, sleeping with your head slightly elevated can help prevent fluid from pooling in the periorbital area.
Remove any makeup before hitting the hay to avoid smudging it into your eyes and irritating the surrounding skin.
Marcus suggests applying a cold washcloth to your eyes to help lessen the “I just woke up” look.
She says this helps by causing vasoconstriction (constriction of blood vessels), which helps relieve puffiness and skin discoloration. Plus, it can have an overall soothing effect, and you don’t have to dig through your fridge for fresh cucumbers.
Pro tip: An ice pack works well, too, if you don’t want a water mess on your face. Just be sure to wrap it in a soft cloth to protect your eyes.
Eye strain can contribute to tired eyes, according to Marcus, by lowering the production of naturally lubricating tears and contributing to dry eyes.
“Taking periodic breaks from screen time and doing eye exercises may help reduce eye strain and therefore help eyes to function normally by producing lubricating tears, reducing dryness, redness, and bloodshot eyes,” she says.
Eye exercise can be pretty simple. In fact, one exercise involves just switching up your focus as you sit. Learn a few of these simple moves here.
Face yoga (yes, it’s a thing) can also help reduce eye strain.
Taking breaks from screen time to avoid eye strain can also be helpful, according to Marcus.
She adds that keeping your phone or tablet on night mode decreases exposure to blue light, which can help improve the quality of your sleep.
If night mode doesn’t do much to keep your tablet or device from shining bright like a diamond, blue light glasses may ease the strain.
Not sure which to try? Check out our guide of the 11 best options.
Excessive time staring at screens may cause eye strain, according to Marcus. This happens, in part, due to engorgement of the blood vessels surrounding your eyes, which can lead to, as you might have guessed, dark circles.
Make time for little breaks to give your eyes a much-needed vacay:
Allergy symptoms, along with illnesses like the flu and common cold, can pack a punch. Itchy lids, sneezing, sinus congestion, or postnasal drip can all lead to a tint around the eyes.
Marcus says those who live with allergies may notice the area under their eyes often appears swollen and discolored.
She explains that this happens when allergens prompt your cells to trigger a histamine release. This, in turn, causes a release of fluid, giving that swelling and tearing effect you know and love so much.
An allergist or otolaryngologist (ENT) can offer more insight into possible triggers and recommend treatments to keep sniffles and scratchy eyes under control, including:
Plus, when you’re plain old sick, eyes can also look puffy, due to sinus congestion and decreased drainage of the fluid around the eyes.
Keep in mind that makeup and skin care products could also trigger allergy flare-ups or eyelid dermatitis. It’s always best to check the ingredients and do a patch test before using a new product.
Marcus says improving air quality may lower the number of allergens or irritants that eyes come into contact with, helping eyes look less tired.
“If tired eyes are due to an irritant or allergen that was previously in the air, using a high quality air filter may be helpful,” Marcus says.
This may prove particularly helpful if you’re sensitive to these factors and happen to live in an area with a high level of pollution or airborne allergens.
If you notice an uptick in that Hamburglar or puff-pastry look, maybe you’ve just faced a stressful week or a jam-packed weekend that impeded your sleep or nutrition.
Other reasons you might wake up with less than perky peepers? Loading up on salty snacks, downing too much coffee, or clinking a late-night cocktail.
Making a few changes might help rid you of the rings and bags:
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A quick recap of helpful tips and tricks for tired eyes:
If you have permanent dark sockets or puffy bags under your eyes that you can’t relieve with lifestyle changes or fast fixes, medical solutions might offer an alternate option.
Procedures for dark circles include:
If circles or bags bother you to the point that you can’t stop thinking about them or they contribute to feelings of depression or anxiety, it could be worth asking a dermatologist about other treatment options.
Just know these procedures can get fairly expensive, and they also come with some potential side effects.
One important thing to keep in mind about eye bags and rings? More than likely, you notice them more than anyone else.
Many people tend to look at themselves closely in the mirror in the morning — when they wash their face, shave, or apply products, for example. And morning just happens to be the time when circles and puff show up most clearly.
But classmates, coworkers, and the person in line next to you at the coffee shop probably won’t even notice.
They might, however, perceive a certain mysteriousness or depth they can’t quite put their finger on. Some people find that shadowed, “just woke up” look pretty alluring — so alluring, in fact, that they might go to great lengths to make dark circles stand out or mimic them with makeup.
Plus, a dark circle or an under-eye bag can amp up your authenticity, just like an eye crinkle or wrinkle. They’re natural, after all.
Adding some glimmer can help you display them with pride:
Ultimately, don’t be afraid to skip the concealer and rock your under-eyes.
Jennifer Chesak is a Nashville-based freelance book editor and writing instructor. She’s also an adventure travel, fitness, and health writer for several national publications. She earned her Master of Science in journalism from Northwestern’s Medill and is working on her first fiction novel, set in her native state of North Dakota.
We’ve heard it time and time again: the eyes are the window to the soul. That is, unless they’re puffy, sullen, and tired-looking.
Tired, swollen eyes with dark eyebags underneath is an issue that unnerves people of all ages, from stressed-out college kids to ladies in their golden years who try their best to keep up with their anti-aging routine.
Whether it’s a one-off side effect of a long night or from fine lines and wrinkles from old age, having tired-looking eyes can be a bust for your self-confidence. Luckily, there are tons of ways to refresh your eyes when they’re looking a bit exhausted, both in the short-term or for the long run.
Let’s dissect what makes eyes look tired to begin with, and what you can do to restore that glimmer and youthful sparkle in your eyes.
What Makes Our Eyes Look Tired?“Tired” eyes is a bit vague, no? But you can’t really help but describe it that way when the appearance can differ from person to person. For some, it comes in the form of redness and puffiness, while for others, it’s the saggy skin by the lids and under-eyes that accentuate exhaustion and weariness.
While some people naturally have darker skin under their eyes, there are a bunch of circumstantial reasons why your eyes can look a bit tired, with many unique manifestations.
Here are some of the most common causes of tired-looking eyes and what really happens to your eyes when you fall prey to them:
Skin AgingThis is the most probable reason why your eyes look a bit tired and sullen if you’re in your fifties or beyond. As you grow older, the tissues and muscles by your eye area weaken, so they sag a bit, making you look a bit sleepy.
As you mature, our skin’s elasticity weakens. Fats and fluids in the eye area can accumulate in your lower eyelids, making them look plumper, and in turn, a lot puffier. Saggy skin is just the cherry on top, making you look even more fatigued.
Another thing that happens when you age is a slowdown in collagen production. Your skin can look thinner and more see-through, making blood vessels more visible than they were before. This can make you look like you have dark circles under your eyes, even if you didn’t have a late night.
Fluid RetentionThis is a more temporary reason for eye swelling, and it usually occurs when you wake up after crying your eyes out watching a tearjerker movie the night before, or if you’ve just had a very salty meal.
When you’re dehydrated, your eyes can puff up and swell because they’re very sensitive to the lack of water. If you find that your eyes get red and puffy to the point that you can’t open your eyes, try downing a glass of water and keeping yourself hydrated for the rest of the day.
Lack of SleepWhen you’re stressed out and not getting enough sleep, your eyes are a dead giveaway. They can look darker and have bigger bags underneath when you’re more tired than usual or have a lot on your mind, like an unbearable workload or emotional anxiety.
SmokingVices like smoking is known to cause your skin to age faster, and your eyes are no exception to this. Saggy eyebags is just one effect of smoking too much.
If you suspect that your eyes have been looking darker and more sullen because of smoking, you should consider quitting. You’ll see a world of difference not just under your eyes but in your skin, hair, nails, and overall health.
AllergiesWhen triggered by allergies, your body produces a compound called histamine, which is an immune response to something foreign that comes into contact with the body—in this case, your eyes.
Histamine dilates the blood vessels under your eyes, which increases blood flow in the area. This gives you the appearance of darker circles and puffy, inflamed lids.
EyestrainLastly, we have a cause that’s very relevant to today’s digital age. Reading without your glasses on or staring into a laptop screen all day long can strain your eyes. This causes blood vessels in the area to dilate, allowing blood to rush through and making your under-eyes look dark and tired.
Easy Ways to Get Rid of Dull, Tired-Looking EyesHaving eye bags and puffy eyes isn’t usually enough of a concern to get you driving to the hospital. Tired-looking eyes are harmless and often don’t need any medical attention. Instead, you can fix it at home with natural remedies or a bit of cosmetic magic.
If you have a hunch that your redness, puffiness, or dark circles are from straining your eye in one way or another — including lack of sleep and crying your eyes out—you might want to try applying a cold compress in the eye area.
Soothing the eyes with something cool can reduce puffiness by a ton. It can also relax your blood vessels, allowing your under-eyes to look a bit lighter and brighter.
Another way to soothe your eye area is with caffeine. Try cooling the area with some cold tea bags or ice cubes made of coffee.
Tea soothes inflammation and irritation in the eyes. Meanwhile, the caffeine in tea and coffee can constrict your blood vessels, decreasing swelling and darkening in the area. Caffeine can also drain out any fluids that are making your eyes look swollen and bloated.
Caffeine is also a fantastic way to firm up the skin, which in turn makes your eyes look younger and more alive.
Another way to tackle tired-looking eyes on a more long-term basis is to incorporate a moisturizing eye cream into your nightly beauty routine. Keeping your skin nourished is a great way to delay the onset of fine lines and wrinkles, which can aggravate that exhausted look in your eyes.
Look for an eye cream with anti-aging ingredients like caffeine, peptides, and vitamin E. Retinol is another great vitamin for mature skin, as it amps up collagen production to help minimize fine lines and crow’s feet by your eyes. It also helps restore firmness in the skin to age you down a few years.
Using a good eye cream is a surefire way to improve your eye area’s elasticity and resilience against puffiness and darkening, making it a preventative measure too. Just remember that you have to be consistent with applying it each night to see the results you want.
When all else fails, you can always look to your trusty color corrector and concealer to put a band-aid over the wound, which in this case is your red, puffy, tired skin around the eyes.
Start by getting rid of redness and darkening around your eye by using color-correcting makeup. Use a green shade to cancel out redness, or a bright yellow and salmon to get rid of the blues and purples of your prominent dark eyebags.
Top it off with a high-coverage concealer to make the skin around your eyes look brighter, more flawless, and ten times more awake. This quick fix is perfect for college kids and office gals who need to look more presentable after a rough, stressful night.
Treatments to Reduce Lines and Wrinkles Around Your EyesIf your puffiness and swelling are persistent and keep you from doing your daily tasks, you can always ask your dermatologist about getting eyelid surgery to correct it. You should also consider this option if your swollen eyes are giving you high levels of stress and anxiety.
Your surgeon will likely conduct a blepharoplasty, an outpatient procedure wherein excess fat is drained from the lids, allowing for less bloating and more smoothness in the skin around your eyes.
But if you want something less invasive, you can always opt for treatments to tighten and pamper your skin, your eye area along with it.
Introlift Medical Spa offers treatments not just for your face and eyes, but also from head to toe. Getting one of their facial treatments can rejuvenate the senses and bring back that glow to your skin and eyes.
If you want to tighten and give the skin around your eye area a boost without any downtime, try out the BTL Exilis Elite—a skin-tightening body sculpting treatment. This service uses radio frequencies to promote collagen and elastin production in your skin, keeping it strong, firm, and smooth.
It’s also great for keeping the skin around your eyes taut and wrinkle-free. This can make your eyes look younger and more awake in the long run.
Now, if you want to maximize your treatment and get skin-restoring benefits along with some action for your eyes, check out their Introlift Vitamin C Signature Facial. It uses vitamin C and retynyl palmitate to eliminate dark spots from hyperpigmentation, fine lines, and eye puffiness.
The treatment comes with a detoxifying mask, chemical peel, skin tightening, and LED therapy. It’s a terrific way to brighten up your skin and keep it luminous, from your brighter, more radiant eye area to your even-toned complexion.
The facial can be customized to target your personal skin issues, so give the team a heads up that you would love for them to focus on your tired-looking eyes. They’ll surely personalize the treatment to address your unique issue.
Getting this facial hits two birds with one stone—you get bright, clear, smooth skin while ensuring you get that twinkle back in your youthful-looking eyes.
If you’re not quite sure what you want but know that you need to give your tired eyes a treat, go for the spa’s Turn Back Time package—a collection of treatments designed for tightening and brightening up your eyes.
The package puts your eyes in the forefront, offering undereye fillers, skin-tightening sessions, microneedling with hyaluronic acid, and even tinting for your eyelashes and brows! You’ll also get a free eye cream and serum to add to your skincare regimen at home. It’s like a buffet for your eyes!
Lifestyle Changes for Brighter, More Youthful-Looking EyesBut you can’t just rely on beauty products and spa treatments to get rid of your puffy eyes. You have to address the root cause of the swelling and dark circles by adopting some healthy lifestyle changes to minimize having that tired, strained look all day.
You can do baby steps first, like taking breaks from staring at your computer for too long. Try to look away from your computer every half hour or so as you work. Take a peek outside your window for a few minutes to see something other than a bright screen.
Cut down on super salty food and increase your water intake when you can. The more hydrated you are, the less likely you’ll wake up with puffy, bloated eyes. Hydrating regularly will also do wonders for your skin!
You can also actively sleep for longer. Go to bed on time and cut yourself some slack when you set your alarm for the morning—you’re gonna need those extra 15 minutes to keep your eyes in tiptop shape.
Make sure you catch seven hours’ worth of Z’s throughout the night. Proper sleep allows your body to release the hormones you need to improve your skin’s elasticity, which can then prevent fine lines, wrinkles, crow’s feet, and sagging by the eye area.
Most importantly, de-escalate stress levels that lead to dark circles and swelling. Try getting into relaxing hobbies that help you unwind, such as painting, running, yoga, and meditation. Don’t get too caught up in everyday anxiety—allow yourself to take mindful, meaningful breaks to calm down.
ConclusionDon’t wait for others to point out how tired you look. Be ahead of the pack and prevent your eyes from looking swollen, puffy, and tired.
Even if your eyes are quite stubborn and feel the need to act up now and then with some fluid retention or redness, know that there’s always something you can do about it.
Caring for your eye area in your own way is your primary mission, whether your weapon of choice is cutting back on stress by meditating or pampering yourself with a skin-tightening treatment at your fave spa.
After all, rejuvenating your eye area in any creative way is the key to getting back firm skin with a radiant glow to keep your eyes looking fresh and awake.
introauthor2022-10-12T11:42:51-04:00Go to Top
Eye health is directly related to whether you can control the load on your eyesight and provide your eyes with sufficient rest. Experts from the Lucky Look federal network of opticians tell you how to relieve eye fatigue and reduce eye strain if you work at a computer.
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Contents
Any visual discomfort indicates that it is time to take a break from work and give the eyes a chance to rest. Experts identify the main symptoms that indicate an overstrain of the visual system:
Be careful, these symptoms can also signal the presence of serious visual impairment! To rule out negative scenarios, you need visit an ophthalmologist.
Increased visual fatigue can indicate serious disorders, so do not put off a visit to the ophthalmologist
Why does vision deteriorate? The main causes of this phenomenon are distinguished:
High eye strain. This is often faced by schoolchildren and students who are forced to read and write a lot, as well as office workers whose activities involve continuous sitting at a computer or reading documents.
Also, if you are fond of computer games, like to watch TV shows on your mobile gadgets - smartphones or tablets - or spend all your free time with a book, your eyes are also exposed to a high load.
In order to minimize problems with this lifestyle, it is necessary to take breaks as often as possible and give the eyes regular rest.
Computer vision syndrome. This is a whole complex of symptoms, which is caused by overexertion of the visual system due to prolonged use of the computer. The reason for the development of the symptom is not so much the need to look at the monitor for a long time, but the functional change in your posture, eyes, neck. For example, the constant sliding of the gaze from the keyboard to the monitor and back leads to accommodative asthenopia, which is manifested by discomfort, eye fatigue, pain, pain in the superciliary region, blurred vision of the object of fixation.
Subsequently, this can cause problems such as myopia (nearsightedness), accommodation spasm (inability to focus on small objects and details) and dry eye syndrome.
Properly organized workplace and touch typing skills will help to minimize the harm from constant work at the computer.
Dry eye syndrome. Often appears on the basis of computer vision syndrome, develops due to insufficient moistening of vision: with concentrated work at a computer, a person blinks less often, as a result of which the tear film dries up. Plus - the air near the computer heats up and also becomes dry.
Organize your workplace and use special glasses for working at the computer
In the summer season, when air conditioners are in operation, the pathological effect of dry air on the eyes only intensifies. And if you use contact lenses, the syndrome develops even faster.
To reduce the negative impact of external factors and provide more comfortable conditions for the eyes, place a humidifier near your workplace. Also buy moisturizing drops (choose them with the help of an ophthalmologist) and use them several times a day. Try to blink as often as possible.
During a break, do light eye exercises:
To maintain the effect, apply moisturizing drops selected by an ophthalmologist to your eyes. Do not self-medicate, be sure to seek help from a specialist - moisturizing drops come in different viscosities, they can have a healing effect, or they can simply moisten the surface of the eye. Only an ophthalmologist will determine what exactly your vision needs and select the necessary remedy.
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By the way, gymnastics also requires prior consultation with a doctor. Make sure you have no contraindications. Also, the ophthalmologist can advise other types of gymnastics.
There are several rules that must be observed in everyday life. Thanks to this, you can significantly reduce the load on your eyesight, and your eyes will get tired much less.
If you work at a computer, the first thing you need to do is to properly organize your workplace.
The health of your eyes depends on your daily habits. Hygiene of vision allows you to maintain good health and reduces eye fatigue, even under conditions of increased stress.
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Simple exercises that should be done regularly throughout the day will help to quickly relieve fatigue from the eyes. But this is not enough! To make your eyes less strained and tired, it is important to provide the right conditions:
Remember that you need to consult an ophthalmologist before doing gymnastics! Moisturizing drops should also be selected by a specialist.
"People of young and middle age in the current conditions are forced to work at home. And naturally, if they work at home, this work involves the use of a large number of all possible gadgets," she said. words will the minus increase, for example, a person had minus 2.5, sat in front of the computer for two or three weeks, and it became minus 3, no, this, of course, will not happen. Vision should not worsen, "she said.
She added that for people over 18 years of age, working at close range is not a stimulus that leads to deterioration of vision and an increase in myopia. But in these conditions, we can talk about eye fatigue. The ophthalmologist explained that the eyes can get tired if you have to look at an image containing small details or text all day. Also, fatigue can lead to a long stay in front of the screens, especially with a high display brightness.
According to Leshchenko, the "20x20x20" rule can be used to combat fatigue. “First, every 20 minutes of working on a computer or gadget, we take a break,” she said, advising to set reminders or alarms so as not to forget to give your eyes a rest. “When you close your eyes, you need to look into the distance. The next figure is 20 meters,” the doctor continued. “Most probably don’t have such apartments, but you can look out the window. You need to look for 20 seconds, relax your eyes, this is a good exercise, which makes the eyes less tired.
Combating dry air
The ophthalmologist noticed that during a constant stay in the room, a problem for the eyes, as well as for the skin, can become very dry air. As a solution, she suggested using humidifiers. "You can solve the problem easier - pour water into basins or pots, arrange in places where it will not interfere much. Then the humidity will be higher," Leshchenko said.
She stressed that it is also important to maintain the water balance in the body - drink as much water as possible. "If the eyes are tired and dry, you can use moisturizing drops. But only these should not be vasoconstrictors, they make the dryness even worse. They do not relieve, but only add symptoms," the ophthalmologist recommended.
Leshchenko shared that according to social surveys, people aged 18 years and earlier spent a lot of time in front of gadgets. "In Russia, the average time in front of the screen per day was already more than five hours. And in the targeted group, in which people used the computer at work, it was more than eight hours," the doctor explained.
Children at risk
As noted by the ophthalmologist, young children who now temporarily do not go to kindergartens are at risk of developing myopia. "At least one of the parents has myopia - the child is already at risk. The risk group is also determined by how much time the child works close: reads, draws. If, in addition, he watches cartoons on gadgets, there is already a degree of risk," she stressed. she is.
Leshchenko advised parents not to give gadgets to small children. “If they want to show a cartoon, it’s better to put it on TV, the distance to it should be no less than 3 meters. This is very important, in these conditions those children who have a risk of developing myopia can suffer,” the doctor said. She noticed that children who have already been diagnosed with myopia are at less risk. “If a child already has myopia, there is no clear relationship between how much time they spend working close and how much time they do other activities. But physical activity should be, and you need to keep your distance,” the ophthalmologist shared.
As Leshchenko clarified, schoolchildren are in a similar situation as adults, so they should follow the same recommendations. According to her, teachers in distance learning should plan classes in such a way as to reduce the time students spend continuously in front of the screen. "You need to lead a lesson not for 40 minutes, but take a break after 20 minutes. Comprehensibility through computers, webinars is more difficult than through face-to-face contact. Attention is lost, so 20 minutes is a realistic time when you can keep a children's audience," the expert believes.
Lenses are safe
The ophthalmologist also warned that contact lens wearers need to keep their eyes moist during self-isolation. “There are different lenses, in some eyes they get more tired in the sense that the surface of the lens dries up. Due to the fact that you have to strain your eyes all the time, people blink much less often when working at a computer, the lens surface dries out,” she said.