Digital Eye Strain is closely linked to the widespread use of visual display terminals. Symptoms of DES are generally associated with dry eye disease and inappropriate oculomotor response. This review synthesizes the parameters of ambient light and screens that directly contribute to DES and summarizes causal mechanisms between light parameters and DES pathophysiology and symptoms. Excessive luminance in the field of view, including glare and high-luminance screens can decrease blinking rates, triggering dry eye disease. Insufficient ambient illuminance complicates the eye’s ability to focus and align properly, leading to oculomotor issues such as reduced accommodative amplitude and increased positive fusional convergence. These symptoms indicate a strain in the oculomotor system, which, over time, results in muscle fatigue due to a sustained effort to maintain clear vision. The color of light, simply measured as Correlated Color Temperature (CCT), also influences DES. Complaints increase under conditions of both excessively high and low CCT. The light parameters of screens, such as refresh rates, resolution, luminance contrast, and screen CCT, differ markedly from those of paper. These factors cause the eyes’ focus to drift toward the dark point and are compounded by reflections from the screen on the ambient light, leading to focus confusion and further accommodation challenges, such as accommodation lag. Importantly, screen display parameters are continuously changing and interact with ambient light, especially screen luminance and ambient illuminance. Understanding and optimizing these interactions between ambient light and screen parameters are crucial for alleviating and eliminating DES.
Yang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.