Rebecca Brayton: October is Eye Health Month and the Canadian Association of Optometrists is encouraging Canadians to be kind to their eyes with routine, comprehensive eye exams. Your optometrist knows your eyes inside and out and can help you to see everything clear with regular eye exams. Hi, I am Rebecca Brayton and welcome to watchmojo.com. Today, we are speaking with Dr. Langis Michaud about an important eye health issue that may be affecting many Canadians, computer vision syndrome.

The majority of Canadians may not even know they suffer from this condition but if the symptoms are less undetected, they can lead to increased discomfort and eye and vision strain. So what is CVS or computer vision syndrome?

Dr. Langis Michaud: Computer vision syndrome is designed by optometrists as an ocular fatigue occurring while the patient is doing computer work or blackberry work or any kind of electronic device that is seen at near distance. The lighting of the device itself can create the ocular fatigue but the environment is very important. So if you have some reflection on the screen, if the lighting around the screen is too low or too bright, that can also contribute to create the ocular fatigue.

Patients will first of all have that fatigue around the eyes and have difficulty to complete their task, it's possible to have redness, photophobia, meaning that the light is disturbing to our vision, blurred vision, diplopia, meaning we begin to see double, these elements are symptomatic of the computer vision syndrome.

Rebecca Brayton: Is there any age group in particular where we're seeing more of an incidence of symptoms in terms of CVS?

Dr. Langis Michaud: The possibility to get sharp and clear focus at near distance is reduced with ageing. By the age of 30, we have to develop a little bit more, our accommodation at near distance, that's again worst after 40, and obviously after 45, we can not due to the effect.

Rebecca Brayton: Is it possible that I suffer from CVS and I don't even know it?

Dr. Langis Michaud: Yes, most of the people will consider normal these symptoms because everybody around them can have exactly the same thing but it's not normal to have headaches, irritation on the eye or around the eyes.

Rebecca Brayton: How often should people get their eyes examined?

Dr. Langis Michaud: By age of 23, 24, 25, the vision is eventually stable, so every two years. For contact lens wearers, annual exam is required, over 40 or 45 years old because there are some changes in the vision, we ask again to see the patient every year, and obviously older than that, because of the pathology that is possibly altering without any symptoms in the eye, it's very, very important to see your optometrist or your ophthalmologist every year.

Rebecca Brayton: What would happen if CVS was left untreated?

Dr. Langis Michaud: Discomfort the most. I think even point you can create some chronic headaches, it's treatable, reversible that you won't be comfortable doing your regular work.

Rebecca Brayton: What are some other ways that I can prevent eye strain when staring at a digital screen?

Dr. Langis Michaud: We have a rule in optometry that we call the 20/20/20 rule, meaning that for every 20 minutes of work at near distance, you have to make a pass of 20 seconds and to look at least at 20 feet in distance or just close your eyes for a very few seconds in order to alleviate the fatigue to cure. Second; to control the environment, the lighting of the screen, the contrast on the screen. The third thing is to wear the correction, the contact lens or the glasses as recommended by your optometrist or your ophthalmologist.

Rebecca Bretten: How do I find an optometrist if I don't already have one?

Dr. Langis Michaud: There is a website called www.optho.ca. This is the website of the Canadian Association of Optometrists. You can also link to the website of your provisional association. Internet is that right place to find your optometrist.

Rebecca Bretten: Thank you very much.

Dr. Langis Michaud: You are welcome.