Office Air Con and contact lenses

[Jezzabell]

I've had a search and can't seem to find any advice already on this, so sorry if it's a repeat request.

I have just been fitted with a CL in my right eye for KC and am trying to wear it as often as i can. Unfortunately, i work in an office with no windows and air con and my computer is on the desk next to me. I find it is making my eyes very dry and wearing the lens rather uncomfortable. I obviously want to try and be wearing the lens all the time at some point, but the air con is making very difficult to even get a few hours wear time in. I am in the office from 8.30am to 5pm and then am tired in the evening and concerned only wearing it at the weekend is a bit of a waste of time. when i am not in the office i find it ok to wear and it's only been a few days. I was recommended hypromellose eye drops by the eye hospital dispensary yesterday and have tried them today, but it only helps for about 10 mins.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice, anyone got over this problem themselves?

thanks

[GarethB]

Hi Jess

Quite a common problem for us so you are not alone.

I found eye drops took time to start working but they should give more than 10 minutes relief. For me I use Systane by Alcon and when I first started using them they would give relief for an hour before top up. As I continuede to use the eye drops the time between top ups increased and now I use them when I put lenses in and as soon as I take them out. With my RGP's this would give me 12 hour lens wear. Without the eye drops I could only manage 1 hour at the most. I did try quite a few different eye drops giving each at least a week before moving to the next before I found one that worked for me.

For maximum effect I found taking out the lenses an dputting the eye drops directly in tot he lens well and puting the lens back in. That way the cornea closes the contact lens got a good dose rather than relying on tears to wash the drops under the lens. Taking my lenses out at lunch time helped too.

One thing you might not be aware of is that the Display Screen Equipment Regs (http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/) are a bit vague about taking breaks. Make sure you take regular frequent breaks. Don't have to be too long, but regular short breaks are better than one long break infrequently. Ask your supervisor r occupation health for a new DSE assessment and they should look at the whole worke environment, type of work, DSE set-up and software you use and make recomendations. Minor adjustments to the monitor or where you sit with respect to the air conditioning unit may benefit you or you might have to go as far as being provided a small office so you can have a humidifyer which works best in a smaller enclosed area than an open plan office. I've never found this to be necessary, I just moved an extra 2 feet from the air con and that helped loads and I always have a glass of water by my side so get through a good 2 litres of watre each day. The only dieretic drinks I have now is 2 cups of coffee per day.

A DSE assessment should be reviewed regularly and definitly when you have a change in your work conditions, change with your KC to make sure that your employers are making the appropriate adjustments under the DSE regs which is a legal requirment regardless of you having KC which is covered by the Disability Discrimination Act.

If none of these help, it might be the lens fit is a bit tight so the eye is drying out because of that and fresh air is just giving some relief. this is only a thought as only an optom could say for sure after looking at your eyes.

[Andrew MacLean]

I also suffer from dry eye, and like Gareth I use lubricating eye drops. Clinitas Soothe is designed for use in conjunction with contact lens wear.

One of the commonest reasons for people giving up on contact lenses is dry eye, and this is particularly prevalent among people with KC and people who work in air conditioned buildings, so being both a KC sufferer and someone who works in an air conditioned building you are almost sure to get caught with one of the punches

The advice seems to be that you are proactive with lubricant drops; do not wait until your eye actually feels dry.

All the best

Andrew

[rosemary johnson]

Hi.
Let me check I've understood this aright: your lens and eye are fine utside the office, and you only get problems whe you go into the office with the aircon on?
If so..... it is the aircon that is wrong, and not your eye! SO I'm less than entirely surprised that trying to adjust the eye with drops isn't being too successful!
[For info - an office wehre I once worked got new aircon fitted, and it caused masses of problems, apparenlty, for enarly all the people who wore contacts. I very rapidly ended up in A&E who were totally unsympathetic and told me to use a type of eye drops (forget which now, maybe the same as yours) which cost a fortune for a teeny weeny bottle and only made the eye feel gluey and sticky and horrible and did no good at all! I complained to management, and after a few tries of moving to a different workstation further from the vents got moved out to a Portakabin! - cold and damp in winter, hot and muggy in summer, but at least the windows opened.]
You've basically got 3 options:
1. try loadsa different eye drops and see if any of them do any good. You could also try drinking more water or changing diet - but basically, if your eyes an lenses are fine everywhere but the office, then you're asking your metabolism to operate in two completely different "modes" and know to switch between them when you walk in and out of the office door. You may find you can adapt - or the two modes may be sufficiently different this is just too much to ask.
2. make representations to management about the aircon, with a view to getting it overhauled/adjusted and properly humidified itself.
NOTE: proper "air conditioning" (as distinct from "mechanical ventilation" which merely pumps air about) should contain its own humifier (/dehumidifier for very muggy weather) units, and should be pumping out the air into the rooms at suitable humidity levels, if correctly installed and adjusted, or "balanced". All to ooften these aren't maintained properly and get dry - or are allowed to get too dry by people afraid keeping them damp may lead to legionaire's disease! Also, many aircon systems in the office world were installed and balanced when the office was a large, open-plan empty shell, and are never rebalanced as they should be when the occupants move in and put up partitions, install particular heat sources such as photocopiers and coffee machines, etc. There's a lot of offices out there whose aircon would e a whole lot more effective, not to mention cost- and energy-efficient (and hence "greener") if they were rebalanced properly.
There's been a fair amount of research done onto bad aircon, and "sick building syndrome" - Muggins Here once working in another office where we thought this was developing - perpetually stuffy and headachey. If your workplace has a union, the H&S reps should have access to info on this, or you may like to try a few searches (I got a lot of info at the time we had problems from London Hazards Centre; LRD = Labour Research Dept are another good source of research reports about working conditions etc).
Do try to find out if there are other people in your workplace who have similar problems - that is, they find the aircon is drying out their contact lenses and making their eyes sore. If you can all complain together, you will have so much more weight. I found, when I had the aircon lenses problems, there were lotsof others who'd had the same problem, and had given up wearing lenses at work and gone back to glasses. Unfortunately,because they could, they didn't feel like bothering to make a fuss.
3. you can find a way of rehumidifying your environment - lots of pot plants, a humidifier machine, or even a squeeze-handle spray bottle of cold water that you spray into the air when H&S aren't looking (and I haven't said that, of course!!!!!!!)
Actually there is an option 4..... look for a new job. Not the best time to be doing that, and a tight bummer if it's otherwise a good place to work.
Good luck! And do let us know how you get on.
Rosemary

[GarethB]

H&S aren't worried about people spraying water in the air to up humidity unless you start spraying it on electrical components like your PC.

I'm responsible for the H&S for over 200 people in the R&D department where I work

[Susan Mason]

Hi

I too have previously had issues with aircon and no windows and an office where we were encouraged not to go outside as it was classed as a security risk.
Like Gareth systane drops helped for a while and then celluvisc has been a real help. I now have a scleral lens (right eye only as left has hydrops) so the celluvisc is easier, with a standard RGP it may not be much use.

The smoking ban also helped - whilst I don't smoke it meant the firm had to let people go outside and two benches and a rain cover suddenly appeared.

Hope you have found a solution.

Susan x

[pauline collins]

I have had exactly the same experiences.......lenses are ok if i am outside - but time either in the house or in the office the lenses dry out...again like everyone else I too use various types of eye drops...i very rarely have the heating on in my car as that too drys my eyes out.......when the temp is -5 or below then i will put it on to defrost the car!! but other than that my car is cold........

I did once leave a job due to the air con they had installed....I didn't leave solely due to the air con but it did play a big part......

So persevere with the drops and make sure you have the breaks you are entitled to...i too find relief removing them at lunch time and perservering with my glasses in the afternoon...then lenses again to go home in.......

Let us know how you get on.
Take care
Po

[GarethB]

Pauline,

You can get air freshners that are filled with a solution of airfreshner that clips to the air vent. Try rinsing out the airfreshner and filling it with water. I've found on really hot days I can run the aircon without drying my eyes out as the dry air rapidly soaks up the water vapour in the airfreshner unit

[pauline collins]

Hi Gareth -What a good idea..never thought about that and so simple......I will give it a go.......

Thanks
Po

[GarethB]

Let me know how you get on, just because it works for me it might not work for others. That said you don't know until you give it a go