Saline solution as eyedrops

logixoul

2 years ago I washed my eyelids with dish detergent once. Clearly a very dumb idea, and my eyestrain has definitely been worsened by this, since then. My eyes are now sensitive to any kind of tiny foreign material inside them - be it a dust speck, or e.g. some minor sweat-grease from accidentally touching my eyes with my unwashed fingers.

The good news, though, is that rinsing my eyes with saline solution (from the pharmacy) before using a screen, helps me a lot. A lot more than even the best "artificial tears" available. Artificial tears (i.e. moisturizing eye drops) seem to "lock the irritant in" into my eye, and hence just increase the eye irritation (usually).

Try it! On the off-chance that you have a similar eyestrain etiology like mine, it might help you. 🙂

bkdo

logixoul

Thanks for the recommendation, I'm going to look into this as well 😃

Do you have a specific brand that works best for you?

logixoul

bkdo I use a brand called "Physiodose". Haven't tried any other so far.

rumpty

Thanks for the idea.

Seconding your comment about artificial tears - my ophthalmologist recommended using them heavily and although they aren’t supposed to build a dependency - in my case they did. Eyes ended up very scratchy all the time, and I think my eyes stopped tearing properly.

My point isn’t to distrust doctors, but to be careful and watch for if things improve or worsen.

logixoul

I'd like to add (to my own post) that 2 years ago (soon after the dish detergent catastrophe) I switched to hypoallergenic everything:

hypoallergenic dish detergent
hypoallergenic shampoo
hypoallergenic hand soap
hypoallergenic shower gel
hypoallergenic laundry detergent

All of them from the "Ultra Sensitive" series of dm's own brand. So, no preservatives, no perfume, no colorants, etc.

And this all has helped a lot.

bkdo

logixoul

That's interesting, glad to hear that you've had some relief by switching to hypoallergenic. Would you mind going into a bit more detail about how it helped? For example, did it eliminate certain flicker symptoms?

Did you have any diagnosed allergies before you tried this? I don't have any that I know of, but I'm curious about trying this as well.

logixoul

bkdo It allowed me to go from 1hr to 2hr screentime (at the time). Since then, my vision (and screenstrain) has gone through good times and bad times.

My only diagnosed allergy is hay fever, which only affects my nose, and only when it's April. Also I went to an allergologist after I switched to hypoallergenic stuff, but he said he doesn't have any means of testing for detergent allergies. He just tried testing me for 6-7 generic things (such as various kinds of plants) and concluded that I don't seem to be allergic to them.

seeker_of_no_light

I also switched to hypoallergenic detergent, because for allergic skin issues unrelated to my eyes. But I also think that it's probably beneficial if you are allergic to perfumes etc. to use these type of detergents for textiles which have direct contact with your eye lids like pillow cases and towels.

As for what I put into my eyes, I use highly concentrated hyaluronic acid eye drops with no preservatives (Hylo Gel) which have been working quite well for me ever since I discovered them eight years ago.
Tap water kills my eyes nearly as badly as looking into flickering LED light and I only wash out my eyes with the most affordable mineral water I can find. Otherwise I cover my eyes with swimming goggles which might seem extreme but actually helps a lot in keeping my eyes less irritated to external factors (closing my eyes very tightly while rinsing my face sadly doesn't work)