Doctors at the National Naval Medical Center continue to educate patients on the importance of healthy vision. They are encouraging all eligible Tricare beneficiaries to make an appointment if they have any questions concerning their vision.

‘‘For people not in the military, this is a time for them to think about the importance of taking good care of their vision,” said Michael Pattison, NNMC and Walter Reed Army Medical Center integrated service chief for Ophthalmology. ‘‘I think we’re fortunate in the military because this is an ongoing program. We evaluate military people annually because of the physical health assessments (PHA) that we do.”

According to a survey conducted by the AOA, more than four out of five Americans spend time in front of a computer or hand-held device. The AOA believes that while these are great time saving tools, they can cause many problems for users.

‘‘Being in the military and primarily in any workforce everybody works on computers. Computers cause a tremendous eye strain,” Pattison said. ‘‘Usually when I find out [about a patient’s eye problem] most people are talking about their eyes getting tired, they get headaches later in the day or their vision is progressively getting worst.

Burning eyes, blurred vision, double vision, neck and shoulder pain are symptoms that can lead to computer vision syndrome (CVS).

Staring at a computer screen or hand-held device places extra demands on vision systems such as ocular motility, the ability of the eyes to move in various positions, accommodation, the ability to focus clearly at various distances and vergence, the ability to move the eyes in and focus on a near object (convergence) or move them out and focus on a far object (divergence).

‘‘What makes the computer so difficult for many patients is that you have to increase your focus all day long,” said Thu-Ha Easter an optometrist for NNMC. ‘‘It’s like a rubber band that’s been stretched all day long, it gets [weak] and that’s where you end up having computer vision syndrome.”

Sitting in front of a computer screen, hand-held device and age are factors of CVS.

‘‘People tend to become more near sighted over time,” Pattison said, who is also specialty leader for Navy Optometry. ‘‘More than half of our patients are symptomatic in that they have visual complaints that I relate to them spending so much time in front of a computer.”

Research conducted by the AOA shows that 2,000 workers suffer from job-related eye injuries each day in the U.S., and that safety experts and doctors of optometry agree that simple safety steps could prevent 90 percent of all eye and vision injuries.

‘‘There is no magic formula [for healthy vision],” Pattison said. ‘‘Good nutrition is good and getting proper amounts of rest is good. What I tell people is remember that computers are not your friend, remember to look away from your computer at something as far away as possible every five or 10 minutes and get [that image] as clear as you can and go right back to work, you want to break that routine.”

When asked whether refractive surgery can help a patient Pattison said that they are still subject to the symptoms of CVS.

‘‘What I tell [refractive surgery patients] is the same as any other patient, what will happen over time is the eyes will adapt to that computer and their distance vision will get worse again,” Pattison said. ‘‘So unless they enjoy pain and want to go through their refractive surgery again, I advise those [patients] to take care of their eyes.”

The AOA suggests, that people use a 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes take a 20 second break and view something 20-feet away, and a 15 minute break every two hours. This will allow eyes to rest and keep moist. In addition, staring off into the distance should help keep eyes from locking into a close-up position.

‘‘For people in uniform, the most important thing is making sure that they’re getting their routine eye care and making sure that they have the proper eye wear they need,” Pattison said. ‘‘For everyone else I do suggest an eye exam every two years.”