BANGALORE: It is not about being omniscient but endangering your eyesight. Prolonged and regular use of the computer threatens eye condition and often results in permanent eye damage.

"Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) is related to work with the computer. The symptoms reported to doctors include fatigue, headache, dry eyes, eye strain, blurred vision, neck pain, altered colour perception and double vision," says industrial safety consultant K. Shankar, whose clients include many information technology firms.

According to ophthalmologists, people who use computers for more than two hours a day are vulnerable to CVS. Predisposing conditions such as uncorrected or improperly corrected refractive errors, binocular dysfunctions and focusing deficiencies may aggravate the problem.

"Poor lighting, inadequate viewing distance, improperly aligned work station, poor colour contrast, glare and reflection all exacerbate the problem," Mr. Shankar says. Those wearing corrective lenses should buy lenses that have a focal distance designed for working on a computer. These may differ from lenses suitable for reading, driving or other activities. The top of the display screen should be slightly below eye level and about 18 to 24 inches away from the face. Use a paper stand at about the same height as the monitor, if you need to read and key in. Eye fatigue can be reduced among contact-lens users if they take the trouble of blinking regularly and use eye-moisturising drops to avoid dry eyes. You can also increase the font size, use glare reduction filters and use glasses with an anti-reflection coating. The angle of the computer screen should be easily visible and the monitor's brightness and contrast should be adjusted to suit your needs.

"Choose a monitor with good resolution for clarity of characters on the screen. The screen refresh rate should be at least 60Hz to eliminate screen flicker," Mr. Shankar suggests. Some visual skills important for computer users are tracking, fixation, focus change, near vision acuity, binocularity and maintaining attention.

Doctors suggest the 20/20/20 exercise which is simple enough to follow. Take a short break of 20 second every 20 minutes or so and look for a minute at an object more than 20 feet away. You can also refresh your eyes with this simple exercise: briskly rub your palms together for about 20 seconds till they are warm. Cup the warmed palms over your closed eyes.

Relax your brow; breathe regularly and easily.

When you open your eyes again, looking at the monitor will be less of a strain.

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