About 7 years ago I had problems with my eyes that had grown so big I was unable to work in front of a computer screen more than 10 minutes at a time. My eyes would simply explode and all the white in them would become red. Then that happened my eyes would also become sore. It had become a vicious circle and at the time many eyes doctors were clueless and had failed to read up on common symptoms among IT people who work many hours each day behind a computer. Luckily I finally found an eye doctor that was of some help, and managed through experimentation to get my red eyes problem under control.

In the years following I tried a number of things. Some of these worked wonders. This is my own “as-is” personal list of tips and tricks to reduce problems with red and sore eyes:

• Consult with an eye doctor if you experience problems with red eyes.
• Get tear eye drops with no preservation additions. Usually that means one day dosis containers.
• Get eyedrops against allergy, again unpreserved like the tear drops.
• Make sure you do not expose you eyes to direct lighting. Experiment with slightly dimmed soft whole-room lighting.
• Turn down contrast and light on computer screen.
• Avoid reflections. Check your monitor, windows, glass frames etc. Avoid, dim and defocus all light reflection sources as much as possible.
• Remember to blink with your eyes. Studies have shown those that work and read much at computer screens blink less, which in return dries the eyes.
• Be aware of the room temperature. Computers can warm small rooms very quickly, and this can really worsen eye irritation.
• Force some pauses into your work. Chat with colleagues, sort papers or whatever.
• Use modern “flat screen” TFT monitors. Do not use one that reflects light!

Above are things that helped me the most. In addition you can also:

• Get your eyesight checked. Glasses can help reduce eyestrain “work stress” on eye muscles.
• Try massage and relax the muscles around your eyes once in a while.
• Get checked for obvious allergies. Whether it is pollen or something else.