The Importance of Seeing Your Optometrist in Elko for Computer Vision and Migraines

According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), the average person in America spends seven hours a day on a computer. If you're one of those who spend a lot of your time staring at a computer screen, there is an excellent chance you're experiencing some sort of computer eye strain. This is due to the fact your eyes have to constantly focus or your eyes are moving back and forth in a repetitive motion. Computer eye strain, digital vision fatigue, and computer vision syndrome are all results of spending too much time staring at a screen. Another problem that might occur as a result of looking at a computer screen for an extended amount of time is migraine headaches.

What Are Migraines?

More than 37 million people in the United States suffer from migraine headaches. A migraine is a severe type of a headache that is usually associated with intense pain and can also include blurred vision and sensitivity to light. Pain caused by a migraine can last anywhere from a few hours to several days. Other common symptoms associated with migraines include:

• Sensitivity to sound
• Nausea
• Pain on one side
• Aura
• Vomiting

There can be many different triggers for migraines including eating certain foods, a change in sleep patterns, and stress. Another trigger can be eye strain which can be associated with visual fatigue caused by staring at a computer screen for too long or too often.

How Your Elko Optometrist Can Help

If you have noticed you're getting tension or migraine headaches, your eyes feel unusually tired, you have difficulty focusing after an extended period of time, or you have been experiencing migraine headaches, it might be time to see how our Elko optometrist can help. If your eyes are not working properly, it means they have to work harder than they should. When your eyes are working too hard, it can cause a myriad of problems, including computer vision syndrome and digital eye strain, which can lead to migraines. Eye problems and headaches can also be caused by an outdated prescription for your contact lenses or eyeglasses. 

When you schedule an appointment with our Elko optometrist, we'll do a thorough exam which includes checking your visual acuity, doing a refraction test, and checking to see how well your eyes work together. After taking a complete patient history and doing a comprehensive examination, our optometrist might also recommend some lifestyle changes (such as changing the position of your computer screen) so that your eyes don't have to work as hard. These changes can help alleviate getting migraines. They can also be effective in helping to reduce other symptoms associated with computer vision syndrome or digital eye strain.

Contact Our Elko Optometrist Today

Have you been getting migraines and you aren't sure why? It might be because your eyes are working too hard. Contact our optometrist at 775-738-8491 to see how we can help. We are located at 1555 College Parkway.