The Eye Health Wake-Up Call
If your eyes feel dry, strained, or just… off lately, you’re not imagining it. Between endless screen time, elaborate beauty routines, and daily contact lens wear, eye health is quietly becoming one of the most overlooked wellness trends. But how much of what we’re doing is actually helping—and what might be making things worse?
We asked Dr. Julie Chung, a renowned eye surgeon specializing in glaucoma, for a reality check (and also the co-founder of T3). We were surprised to find that from her perspective, the biggest issue is surprisingly simple: we’re not blinking enough.
“The most common mistake I see?” she told The Newsette, “Staring at your phone or computer screen for hours on end,” she said. “When I started practicing medicine, dry eye was something I saw in patients in their 50s and older, or those with underlying medical conditions. Now it's an epidemic, and it's walking into my office in its 20s and 30s. Even teenagers.”
It’s a small symptom with big consequences and has also been linked to stress. Her advice to get your eyes back on track? Keep it simple.
“My advice is almost embarrassingly simple: blink,” she said. “Purposefully. I call them 'blink breaks'—stop every 15 to 30 minutes, blink deliberately, look at something far away. Add artificial tears as needed.”
Unfortunately, screen time is unavoidable, but many people ignore early warning signs that their eyes are struggling.
“When patients come in with eye complaints, the tendency is to downplay symptoms until they become impossible to ignore—but the eyes often signal problems far earlier than we give them credit for,” said Dr. Chung. “For younger patients, eye strain is most commonly traced back to a refractive error, meaning they simply need glasses or contacts.”
Symptoms like headaches after screen time, squinting, or blurry vision are often brushed off—but shouldn’t be. And even more serious symptoms require immediate attention.
However, she added, “One symptom pattern that should never be ignored—regardless of age—is floaters accompanied by flashes of light. Floaters on their own, those small specks or cobweb-like shapes drifting across your field of vision, are usually benign. But when they appear alongside flashes of light, that combination can indicate a retinal tear or detachment, which is a true medical emergency requiring same-day care. This is not something to monitor at home or schedule for next week.”
Beyond screens, beauty habits are another major factor.
