How Dry Eye Am

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By Newsweek Editors

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WE WERE GOING to razz Bausch & Lomb for shameless cybertrend mongering. The company recently unveiled a silly-sounding product: Computer Eye Drops, designed to soothe a PC-related condition called CVS, or Computer Vision Syndrome. But Dr. Penny Asbell, an ophthalmology professor at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, says the affliction is real. Optometric studies have shown people tend to blink less and open their eyes wider when looking at a computer screen, which causes dryness that can lead to fatigue, a burning sensation, difficulty focusing and headaches. Unlike drops advertised to "get the red out," these moisturize. The industry reports that last year 15 million patients sought professional help for CVS. Asbell stresses that the condition does not have any known long-term disabling effects and says calling it a "syndrome" may be a tad over the top. "If you were outside in winter without gloves, would you call it Cold Hand Syndrome?" she asks. Perhaps not, but there sure are a lot of mittens out there.

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