Zoom. Teams. FaceTime. Text. Email. Repeat.

Today, a sizable percentage of Americans are stuck inside, working and schooling from the safety of home, and spending way too much time on digital devices and in front of screens.

Enter blue light. And lots of it.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans were spending an average of the equivalent of 44 years of their lives staring at screens, according to a study commissioned by Vision Direct. This represents both an opportunity and a responsibility for spectacle lens manufacturers, which are today responding with record numbers of indoor blue-light-attenuating prescription lens launches.

As reflected in EB’s 2020 Market Trends report, the sale of eyewear for use with digital devices surged ahead of other specialty products in 2020. And, according to ECPs surveyed, 40% of their patients are now aware of and feeling the effects of blue light issues.

How does that translate into sales? According to a proprietary study conducted by The Vision Council this January, about 10% of adults in the U.S.—a whopping 25 million sets of eyes—are now wearing blue-light-blocking glasses. The most avid wearers? Urban, educated consumers between ages 18 and 44.

To shed light on the situation, EB interviewed two O.D.s who face these issues every day and also invited spectacle lens manufacturers to detail their offerings in this burgeoning category.

TWO PERSPECTIVES

Digital device overload definitely has consumers knocking at their optometrists’ doors. Here, we chat with two O.D.s who are seeing firsthand the effects of increased screen time:

PATIENT CONCERNS

As patients are experiencing the “new normal” of increased digital device time, they may enter your practice already aware of the effects abundant screen time has had on their eyes. Be prepared to answer their questions regarding blue light glasses and address their concerns about time spent on devices.

“Patients’ primary concern is whether they are ‘ruining’ their eyes and causing their prescription to get worse,” says Dr. Wademan. “There’s also an increased awareness of eye fatigue, eye strain, and even dry eyes.”

Even with their newfound awareness, as the expert, Dr. Wademan notes that you’ll want to discuss the best options moving forward, especially with the patient’s age group and daily screen time tasks in mind.

“I have a lot of parents asking about them for their children, whether they have a prescription or not,” shares Dr. Wademan. “Another big group is young adults in their 20s and 30s who are working from home. The majority of patients definitely notice an improvement in symptoms when their glasses have blue-light-filtering capability.”

Dr. Wademan notes that she always recommends trusted brands when it comes to blue-light-filtering lenses. “As eye doctors, we have to abide by a high standard of care,” she says.

PANDEMIC-AMPLIFIED PROBLEMS

“Even before the pandemic, we saw plenty of issues,” says Dr. McGee.

This is no surprise, considering recent research shows that the typical American was already spending 11 hours a day at a screen and looking at their phones 96 times a day.

“All that screen time is causing a lot of eye dryness, irritation, and discomfort,” says Dr. McGee. “Part of the problem is that our blink rate goes from 20 a minute down to half of that when we’re at a screen. One study said the number can actually drop to seven blinks a minute, so that front surface is starting to dry out.”

Questions to consider asking your patients include:

What are you doing during the daytime?

How many screens are you looking at, and for how long?

“Surprisingly, I find kids in my practice recognize the effects of digital devices, whereas most adults still don’t,” notes Dr. McGee.