Bad Squinting
IS SQUINTING BAD FOR YOUR EYE HEALTH?
Did you ever hear your parents tell you not to squint as a child? It’s a common wives tale that squinting is bad for your vision, just like sitting too close to the TV or reading in the dark. In reality, squinting is not bad for your eye health. That said, if you find yourself squinting a lot, there’s probably a reason for it. It’s likely that you have a refractive error (nearsightedness or farsightedness) and need glasses or a new prescription.
WHY DO PEOPLE SQUINT?
The human eye works similarly to a camera. Light enters your eye through the cornea, and the cornea bends light so it can pass through the pupil. The iris then gets bigger or smaller depending on the amount of light coming through. In dark rooms, your pupils get bigger to allow more light. In well-lit environments, the pupils stay small.
If you have a refractive error, your vision will be blurry. By squinting, you can instantly increase your level of focus because the pupil gets smaller and lets in less light. Squinting also changes the shape of the eye, again helping you focus on something in particular.
Wear sun protection: We know that unprotected exposure to the sun causes squinting in bright sunlight. Proper sunglasses are an essential item to protect as well as relax your eyes while doing the activities you enjoy outdoors. Quality sunglasses have a number of treatments designed to provide you with clear and comfortable vision in bright sunlight, including polarization, anti-glare filters and mirrored coatings. These treatments provide a superior viewing experience over a simple lens with a darkened tint applied to it, reducing the need for you to forcibly narrow your eyelids through squinting in order to be comfortable. Sunlight is also accompanied by invisible ultraviolet (UV) rays which can damage the skin itself around the eyes and lead to premature wrinkling.
Make sure you have the proper eyeglass or contact lens correction: Even a small inaccuracy in your eye wear prescription may lead to increased eye strain during strenuous visual activities and cause squinting. GO TO A PROFESSIONAL!!! DO NOT BUY PRESCRIPTIONS ONLINE OR MEASURE YOUR LENSES YOURSELF!
Opticians and Optometrists are professionals who have studied for this; playing with your vision with a youtube tutorial may have a heavy toll on our eyes.
It may be difficult to tell just by self-testing your vision if you could use an improvement in your prescription. Small inaccuracies in prescription can add up to greater eyestrain and therefore more squinting after activities like computers, reading or driving.
Ensure you are in the correct “lens design” for your visual activities: Most people do not realize that as little as 50% of the benefit of your eyeglasses comes from the doctor’s prescription. The rest is defined by a properly selected lens design. For example, most progressive lenses are not suitable for prolonged computer use as the “computer viewing” section in the lens is relatively small and hard to find. Office lenses, anti-fatigue and single-vision task-specific lenses are more often prescribed for specialized tasks like computer use. They increase the available area in the lens for the viewing task, improve visual fatigue and therefore reduce squinting.
As you can see there are several reasons why you might be squinting more than you should. Book your next appointment with your eye doctor for the best solution to eliminate squinting and premature wrinkling.