Optimum dry eye exercise study
Professor James Wolffsohn
Research by Professor James Wolffsohn and colleagues has determined that the best technique for a dry eye blinking exercise is a close-squeeze-blink cycle, repeated 15 times, three times per day.
Professor Wolffsohn is head of Aston University’s School of Optometry – and he has now developed an app called MyDryEye to encourage dry eye sufferers to complete the blinking exercise routine to help ease their symptoms.
In a study using the instructional app to assess the best routine for blinking exercises, participants found that while they were doing their exercises, symptom severity and frequency decreased and the number of incomplete blinks decreased. Within two weeks of stopping the exercises, their symptoms returned to normal levels.
To carry out the work, Professor Wolffsohn’s team ran two studies. For the first, they recruited 98 participants, who were assessed for dry eye symptoms before and after the two weeks of blinking exercises. Participants were randomly allocated different blinking exercises to determine the most effective. A second study with 28 people measured the efficacy of the blinking exercise.
Once the optimum blinking routine had been developed, Professor Wolffsohn worked with Alec Kingsnorth, an engineer and former Aston undergraduate and PhD student, and Mark Nattriss, business manager of Wolffsohn Research, to develop the MyDryEye app.
The app allows users to monitor their dry eye symptoms, assess their risk factors, add treatment reminders and monitor their compliance, complete the science-based blink exercises and find a specialist near them.
Professor Wolffsohn said that the blinking exercises should be carried out as part of a treatment programme, which could also include the use of lipid-based artificial tears, omega 3 supplements and warm compresses.
“This research confirmed that blink exercises can be a way of overcoming the bad habit of only partially closing our eyes during a blink, that we develop when using digital devices,” he commented. “The research demonstrated that the most effective way to do the exercises is three times a day, 15 repeats of close, squeeze shut and reopen – just three minutes in total out of your busy lifestyle.
“To make it easier, we have made our MyDryEye app freely available on iOS and Android so you can choose when you want to be reminded to do the exercises and for this to map your progress and how it affects your symptoms,” added Professor Wolffsohn.