Zeiss Digital Lenses: Vision Designed for Your World

Digital Eye Strain is the name that is being used to describe the fatigue your eyes experience from being on personal digital devices for a large amount of time.  If you are uncertain if you are suffering, here are the common symptoms:

• headache, neck, or upper back pain
• tired eyes
• difficulty focusing from near to far
• dry or watery eyes
• or download the free Digital Eye Strain app to see how quickly your eyes can adjust between far distance and cell phone vision

Zeiss Digital Lenses are specifically designed for people that are under 40 (before our focusing system begins to lose its ability to see things up close clearly which is called presbyopia) that are frequent cell phone or digital device users.  The lens is largely made with your usual distance prescription -- it is not a computer pair of glasses and it is not a bifocal or progressive.  In the very inner and outer corners, there is a small near "boost" designed to relax some of the focusing system's effort when you are looking through it. There are no lines, and the power change happens without a progression or any peripheral distortion.  That means nice, normal vision in all ranges.  

Other perks? There are a lot of studies reporting about the potential issues of blue light emitted from our digital devices for our long term ocular health.  Blue light appears to be linked to increased risk for blinding macular degeneration when we are older, and could be causing sleep issues (blue light resets our biological clock by telling us to stay awake!).  Zeiss Digital Lenses are made with an anti-reflective coating designed to block blue light waves to the best extent on the market today without causing a tint to the lens.

What this lens is not designed for:

Are you an all day desktop computer user that gets tired eyes during your work day staring at the screen?  If so, this is not the right product for you because this lens is designed to maximize your distance vision and give just a small, non-distracting window to relax your eyes for hand-held devices.  Desktop computer strain is better solved with a different product all together -- either a progressive style or a separate computer only pair of glasses could work.   Your doctor can help you find the right lens for you based on your needs and issues; there is no one lens for every person and every situation!

My opinion:  I have been wearing the Zeiss Digital Lens for a week, and it has been a completely seamless transition from my standard distance only lenses.  I actually had to prove to myself there was a near boost in the lens by holding the lens up to look through that power boost area in the distance -- that's how inconspicuous it is. I have found absolutely no issues using the lens; it won't distract you, it won't mess with your peripheral or distance vision. It just gives you that little pop of relief for up close strain if you are one of the millions of Americans tied to their cell phone or tablet.  If that sounds like you, these lenses would be perfect for your every day pair of glasses because they would work in all situations without any distortion or issue.  Don't think of this lens as a bifocal or a progressive -- it is not for aging or old eyes. It is literally just a lens designed to help you get through your average day in 2014 (and the foreseeable future unless Google Glass starts really taking off) where we need to see not just in the distance, but transition clearly and easily back and forth between our digital world and the real world.

I am not a spokesperson for Zeiss and was not compensated in any way to write this post.