Wearing an eye patch isn’t recommended as a treatment option for eyestrain. An eye doctor may advise brief eye patch use for certain conditions or after procedures. While not a long-term solution, over-eye patches may help ease eye stress or reduce the amount of visual input into your brain for brief periods of time.

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You may choose or need to wear an over-eye patch at certain times, for specific conditions or following a procedure on your.

Wearing an eye patch is not typically recommended for common eyestrain, and eye doctors do not advise this as a long-term solution versus consulting a doctor and having them evaluate and prescribe treatment as you might need.

You may want to consult your eye health team about returning strain and pain, as it could be a signal of another eye condition that needs treatment.

Eyestrain can cause symptoms such as tired or aching eyes, blurry vision, headache, difficulty concentrating, and dry eyes.

While closing one eye temporarily may provide some relief from eyestrain, it is not a long-term solution.

But it may help relieve eyestrain at times, reducing the demand on your vision. This could be beneficial for these reasons:

  • Reduces visual input: Decreases the amount of visual information your brain needs to process, which can reduce overall visual stress and eyestrain.
  • Alter focusing distance: If both eyes have been focused on a particular distance for a longer stretch of time, this may change the focusing distance for that eye and give you some relief.
  • Less eye competition: If one eye is weaker or experiencing more strain, closing it can reduce competition between the eyes so they don’t have to work together for “binocular vision.”
  • Other eye benefits: May also help relieve any dryness, irritation, or fatigue that one eye is experiencing from focusing too long on close objects or with extended screen use. This might help add some natural wetness to your eyes.

If eyestrain persists or gets worse, you may need to consult an eye care professional for an evaluation and any treatment or management strategies.

When experiencing eyestrain, wearing an eye patch is generally not recommended as a solution.

Eye patches are typically worn over one eye to cover it as part of a treatment plan for certain procedures or conditions. This may also be a recommendation if a single eye is dilated.

Some eye doctors may suggest an eye patch to manage:

When using an eye patch for any specific purpose, it’s important to follow the guidance of an eye care professional.

Childhood conditions like amblyopia and strabismus have long been helped by children wearing eye patches for a few hours or more a day. For example, children with lazy eye may be advised to wear an eye patch for 6 hours or more a day.

However, some research questions the use of eye patches for lazy eye and points to the importance of binocular vision.

Self-treating an eye condition — including eyestrain — with an eye patch or cutting off one eye to prevent double vision will not help your eyes in the long term.

This may not harm your dominant eye’s vision, it could mask a more serious eye condition or issue that requires evaluation and medical treatment.

Wearing an eye patch can have potential side effects, especially if worn for extended periods or without proper guidance. Some possible side effects include:

  • Reduced depth perception: Wearing an eye patch can affect depth perception, which may impact activities requiring accurate judgment of distances.
  • Skin irritation: Prolonged use of an eye patch can lead to skin irritation or discomfort around the eye area.
  • More eyestrain: If an eye patch is too tight or worn incorrectly, it may cause strain on the covered eye or the uncovered eye as it compensates for the loss of vision.
  • Social discomfort: Wearing an eye patch may lead to self-consciousness or discomfort in social situations.
  • Growing infection: If you’re wearing an eye patch for an infection or after a wound, this can cause harm by creating a warm, dark place for bacteria and infection to grow.

As eye fatigue is one glaucoma symptom, some people may opt to wear an eye patch periodically for close-up work or when looking at screens for longer periods of time to help with eyestrain. However, that could add to the strain in your eye and that may lead to other complications.

When using an eye patch, it is essential to follow the recommendations of your eye care professional to minimize potential side effects. Regular breaks and proper fitting can help mitigate any adverse effects.

Living with glaucoma and diabetes-related retinopathy, I have at times found myself wearing an eye patch. This is what I affectionately refer to as my “pirate time,” when I’m sporting an eye patch for brief chunks of time.

I have discussed this with my retinal specialist, and though we recognize it’s not a treatment in itself and isn’t recommended, we also acknowledge this is a temporary relief that accompanies my period retinopathy treatments and twice-a-day glaucoma drops.

This may be from times when I’ve had a laser or injection and want to cover my eye.

Sometimes, I experience eyestrain when looking at a computer monitor or screen for too long. This is when I might take a break, exercising the helpful 20-20-20 philosophy of not looking at my screen but looking elsewhere for 20 seconds at a time.

I may also briefly use pen and paper to jot down notes or write a list of action items before returning to screen viewing.

Other tips to help ease eyestrain

You might try these simple steps to help relieve eyestrain:

  • ensure lighting is adequate so you can see your keyboard and not be squinting in darker settings
  • take breaks from screen time (follow the 20-20-20 Rule)
  • adjust computer screen brightness and screen size for better reading
  • make sure you have proper ergonomics, including any office chairs that you aren’t leaning over to see a screen or monitor more closely
  • practice eye exercises, such as eye yoga

Some of these steps have evidence backing their abilities to help ease eyestrain, while others (including eye exercises) have smaller, less-conclusive findings showing possible eyestrain benefits.

Your eye health team is the best to advise you on what might work for you, if you’re experiencing any eyestrain or other eye-related concerns.

Wearing an eye patch isn’t a long-term solution for eyestrain.

This may not harm your vision, but using one eye for longer periods of time may delay or prevent you from getting a more serious eye issue evaluated.

If you have persistent or worsening eyestrain, consider talking with a healthcare professional to evaluate your eye health and determine if you need any treatments or management strategies.