Coronavirus can affect your eyes apart from it spreading through the mouth and nose. If one affected with coronavirus sneezes or coughs in front of a healthy person, the particles might enter through the eyes. After you may touch your eyes and as a result it will enter the body. So, it is essential to take care of your eyes during the Covid-19 pandemic. Follow some eye care guidelines to take care of your eyes.
Cover your eyes, nose and eyes appropriately.
Protect your eyes with essential cover like glasses or sunglasses during these Covid-19 situations. You must protect your eyes so that the virus particles cannot enter through the eyes. Big protective goggles are also recommended while you are going out. Do wear a mask to cover your mouth and nose as it has become necessary during the covid-19 situation. It’s done to ensure that the virus does not get entered from an infected person to a healthy one. The other thing is to wear gloves, which is necessary as it helps your hands from touching surfaces that have the virus particles residing.
Contact lens users should switch to wear Glasses
In order to maintain proper eye hygiene during covid situations and to protect from any potential eye infection, contact lens wearers should switch to glasses more frequently. Wearing contact lenses to get free from glasses is not good as your eyes remain exposed to the outside. So, it is advised and preferred to wear glasses during the covid 19 pandemic. Lenses do not give the appropriate protection and care to the eyes.
In-stock your general eye health medications
If you are in eye treatment of any eye disease or taking medications, make sure that you have your medicines stocked. To avoid unnecessary issues during covid situations, patients with eye issues need to store medication as per their prescriptions. People with healthy eyes can keep eye drops or ointments for seasonal eye infections. So, it is good to have such medicines handy for eye care during the pandemic.
Do not rub your eyes often
This is always a natural habit of many, that often rubbing the eyes. But this habit needs to be stopped in this covid 19 situation as it might make the virus enter the body. If you have the intention to rub the eyes, always wash your hands properly and sanitize them before you rub or touch your eyes. In case of having dry eyes, it would be helpful if you carry proper eye drops to keep your eyes moisturized.
Digital screen users need to take a break
The pandemic situation has opened the concept of work-from-home to the world. As a result, each one got equipped with our laptops and computer systems in front of our eyes. So the working hours have become longer than regular office hours. In this case , one spends more time in front of the computer compared to the pre-pandemic days. Working from home is an amazing idea to save yourself from the ongoing pandemic, but it also leads to various drawbacks, especially for your eyes. Those who work on a daily basis, they need to rest their eyes frequently. Too much exposure to blue light can cause eye strain, dry eyes and weak vision which might affect your eyes. So, it would be helpful and effective to consider the 20-20 rule, where it is a great way to reduce eye strain for better eye health.
Some needed eye care tips you can follow
1.Adjust and make sure your computer screen is at your eye level so as your seating arrangement. The ideal seat height should be arranged, so that the device screen must not be too close to your eyes. Keep in mind to always maintain one arm’s distance between you and the monitor which will protect your eyes. Maintain the same rule mentioned above to ensure that the screen is not very close to your eyes as it will save your eyes from strain.
2.Set the right brightness and contrast while working on a computer. It might add up a comfort level while working. But it must be adjusted depending upon the surroundings where if you have low light, make sure the contrast and brightness are lower than usual. In doing so, your eyes would not suffer from strain while working. Remember to not keep too much brightness for no reason.
3.Improve your space quality as it is essential to look around and improve the quality of your space that you are working in. Avoid working in an arid environment. Using a humidifier if your interiors are very dry. Wash your eyes as much as possible often and lastly, treat them with something cool such as an eye-pack at night for relaxation. Last but not the least, avoid smoking in your working space.
4.You can minimize the glare while working on the computer. By installing an anti-glare protector or matte screen protector to keep your eyes safe from glare. Fixing the right size screen protector for your screen will help to minimize the amount of light that is generally reflected off the front and back. Remember to blink often. This is another essential consideration while working on a computer or laptop for long hours. Make sure to blink on purpose as this will help your eyes to moisten and feel refreshed. This is an important rule to follow.
5.Make use of artificial tears that help you protect your eyes from strain and many other eye problems. Consult with your ophthalmologist, and he/she may suggest the use of eye drops best suiting your needs. Often lubricating eye drops do not comprise preservatives thus, you can use them as many times as you want. However, do not use them more than four times a day if the drops contain preservatives as it might affect your eyes.
6.Buy the right kind of eyewear while working on a computer or laptop. Always make the right choice while buying your eyewear if you have already suggested a pair of prescription glasses by your ophthalmologist. This is an important consideration to keep in mind if your work forces you to sit on the computer screen for hours. You might prefer using multifocal lenses that can shift your focus between intermediate, near and far distances. Which is somewhat good to use. Also at times your ophthalmologist might suggest you to avoid using contact lenses when sitting in front of the computer because wearing contact lenses in front of the computer has worsened the symptoms of dry eyes for many people.
7.One of the essential tips of eye care work from home is to invite frequent breaks. Allow yourself to take frequent breaks and get away from the computer screen every 30 minutes of use. You can follow the 20-20 rule as it really helps to care for your eyes. The rule is, for every 20 minutes of working on a computer, you must look at something located 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. Taking frequent breaks often will also allow you to get some rest to your eyes. However, you can take a small walk around your room at times or can perform some stretching on your arms, legs, neck, shoulder, as well as back muscles.
Considering the above-listed eye care tips could bring some change in your eye health. Also make sure to include eating a healthy diet, taking exercise and proper sleep on time.