Reading vs Reading on screens - Has anyone noted this anamoly?

[Milo007]

Hello everyone,
For quite a long time now I have been pondering over a thought that hasn't been figured out satisfactorily yet. We all know that a reduced blink rate is one of the most obvious causes of meibomian gland dysfunction. This sounds simplistic as a reduced blink rate results into meibum stagnation and eventually esterification by bacteria which thickens the consistency of the lipids. A continuous flow of meibum must be maintained to not let the lipids solidify.

Having said that that, I would consider two of the most common activities that results in a reduced blink rate - reading and using digital screens. Now considering the first activity that is reading, my question is we have had some crazy people from even the 1600s who were avid readers or rather I should say some were obsessed with reading. What about scientists like tesla or Einstein? They used to read dozens of books in a month, more if not less. Then by today's logic they should have had MGD?!
Whereas we don't have any mentions of eye problems even 40 years ago among people who were heavy readers. Surprisingly, we don't have cases of MGD for people of today as well who indulge into long hours of reading (assuming they are not digital screen addicts). How many bookworms have you seen develop MGD?

Now considering the second activity which is using digital screens for long periods. Most cases of MGD we know has had a big role of using digital screens. Even 5-6 hours of daily screen use is enough to make these glands go haywire! I read a post by Dr. Sandra Lora cremers in which she wrote about a 4 year and a 7 year old child whose glands completely disappeared after they played video games for 3-4 hours a day on an iPad.

Now compare the cases :

1. A person who's reading for 8-12 hours a day (doesn't use a digital screen often) for years doesn't develop MGD.

2. A person who's using digital screens for 5-6 hours a day for a few years develops MGD and starts losing his/her meibomian glands.

Does this mean digital screens have more to contribute to the development of MGD than just a decreased blink rate?

Maybe the blue light is damaging the glands in some way. Who knows?!

What's your thoughts on this members?

[Rebecca Petris]

Reading your post made me think of a bit of context that I'd like to add. I think that one of the aspects of screen reading vs hard copy reading that is frequently overlooked is what I think of as the 'aperture effect' - that is, how much of your ocular surface is exposed, and therefore experiences extra evaporative tear loss during periods of fixation / infrequent blinking while reading - and all the downstream impact of that extra exposure.

There is a huge difference between looking slightly up at a screen, looking straight at a screen, and looking slightly down at a screen (which is what I advise people to do so long as they can make it compatible with decent ergonomics) vs looking down at hard copy or a tablet, in terms of how much of your corneal & conjunctival surfaces are covered/protected by the eyelids.

So with that in mind, thinking about the fact that people can have significant adverse effects EVEN when mostly looking DOWN at a screen is profoundly disturbing and never more so than the quietly growing epidemic of pediatric dry eye issues from screen overuse. It is a travesty that this is not being more effectively publicized so that parents and teachers can work together to prevent it. Going to bite us here in the US in the backside bigtime in coming years/decades in terms of work productivity. And that's before the effect of all the myriad of other dry eye causal factors like medications and (presumably) elective vision correction surgeries that these kids will be exposed to in early adulthood.

[MGD1701]

Moisture glasses with lens (which can block blue light) is a great tool.

[MGD1701]

..........

[farmgirl]

For what it is worth I have a sister in law who suffers from severe dry eye, much worse than mine and she was an avid reader but has never used a computer.

[Milo007]

For what it is worth I have a sister in law who suffers from severe dry eye, much worse than mine and she was an avid reader but has never used a computer.

Excellent input... But then all scientists and scholars should have had MGD for sure. I am into dilemma considering this fact. And there were avid readers more than what we have today back in the 1900s - 1980s or even as early as 1700s. But then why has dry eyes spurged as a mass scale issue only after the widespread adoption of computers and other digital screens?

For now the verdict for me is : Digital screens have more to contribute towards the development of MGD than just a decrease in blink rate.

[farmgirl]

Perhaps much earlier use. Children are given screens as soon as they can talk. Dr. Cremer says that she has had children as young as four with severely damaged glands.

[Milo007]

Perhaps much earlier use. Children are given screens as soon as they can talk. Dr. Cremer says that she has had children as young as four with severely damaged glands.

I got addicted to computer gaming, reading and social networking on 2009 when I was 18 years old. I used to stare at screens for around 12-16 hours a day until around 2012 and 8-9 hours a day thereafter for the next 6 years until the end of 2017. I realized the damage done only early this year when I had unmanageable symptoms cropping up. Reducing rhrthe use of screens upto 2-3 hours a day or less has helped me immensely along with supportive treatments and increased conscious blinking. I am desperate to try lipiflow, IPL or other advanced t as soon the next visit to my doctor three months later in December.

Imagine the extent of damage to the glands of children as young as 4 years when the glands are just maturing. I read that post by Dr. Sandra and all of that patient's glands had vanished already. Unimaginably horrifying!