If You Work At A Computer All Day, You Need These Glasses

It's not easy seein' screens.

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Digital-protection glasses are the reason I have not yet hurled my computer through a window and relocated to a tent in the woods.

Emily Brown / Via BuzzFeed

After months of commuting home with pounding, screen-induced headaches, I just ~could not~ anymore. Luckily, you can only google “how to make my eyes not feel like rocks” so many times before the internet blesses you with information about computer glasses.

As it turns out, computer vision syndrome, also known as digital eye strain, is a real thing.

VH1 / Via giphy.com

If staring at a computer for more than two hours a day has ever given you eye fatigue, dry eyes, headaches, blurred vision, or all four at once (🙋), you might be in the computer vision syndrome boat with me. Welcome.

The decision was made for me when I read on the American Optometric Association's website that computer glasses (or digital-screen-protection glasses) were one effective method of preventing CVS.

Dangerously close to smashing my screen with a jackhammer, I went into comparison-shopping mode instead. TBH, there were a *bunch* of solid options to choose from.

zennioptical.com, coastal.com

I don't wear prescription glasses, but there are a lot of options out there for both regular corrective lens-wearers and the 20/20 folks alike out there.

It turns out a lot of the major online glasses retailers — including EyeBuyDirect, Zenni Optical, and Glasses USA, and Coastal — will put protective lenses in any of their frames (in addition to your prescription, if you need one).

Amazon has some good options, too. (I mean, come on. Are you surprised?)

Lightning Le Bran / Via amazon.com, Waendy / Via amazon.com

These, in particular, have over 1,000 five-star reviews, and start at under $10.

Promising review: "These glasses have saved me! I work under fluorescent lights in a laboratory and stare at multiple computer and instrument monitors and my phone all day. These glasses have improved my eye strain, eye pain, fatigue, and blurry vision 90%. I suffer migraines, and they have improved with the use of these glasses. I have both the black and tortoiseshell glasses. They fit well, sit even on the nose, and are comfortable. I wear them all day as they help with the glare of indoor fluorescent lighting as well. Best 11 bucks I've spent." —Lightning Le Bran

Get them from Amazon for $8.99+ (available in 37 colors).

The brand I finally decided on was Felix Gray, and I’m here to report that I have not had a single screen-induced headache since I bought their glasses.

Emily Brown / Via BuzzFeed

Starting at $95, Felix Gray's digital-protection glasses are on the pricier end, but the testimonials I read convinced me to make the investment. I also appreciated that they broke down the effects of blue light in a way my pea brain could understand, because the only thing I retained from science class is that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell and that does not help me.

What really sold it for me — besides that they actually worked — was that Felix Gray's lenses look good. They aren't tinted yellow like the computer glasses of yore, and they're just Warby Parker–eqsue enough that no one at work will blink twice when you walk in wearing them. (Even if you don’t buy Felix Gray, it’s worth checking out their website for info about how and why blue-light-blocking glasses work.)

I am wearing computer glasses as I type this, and all I can hear is a chorus of angels.

NBC / Via giphy.com

Take my word for it.

Get them from Felix Gray for $95+.

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