I've been wearing daily contacts for about a year now, and lately my eyes feel really dry and uncomfortable by the end of the workday. I work in an office staring at screens most of the time. Should I switch to a different brand of contacts, or is there something else I can do to help with the dryness?
Dry eyes from contacts are pretty common, especially when you're staring at screens all day - your blink rate drops and tears evaporate faster. Before switching brands, try the basics: blink more deliberately, take screen breaks, use rewetting drops made for contacts, and make sure you're not overwearing them (even daily contacts shouldn't stay in for 16+ hours consistently).
Screen time absolutely tanks your tear production - I notice it myself when I'm stuck at a desk for hours. One thing people don't always realize though: if you're already dealing with dry eyes, switching to a "more comfortable" contact brand sometimes backfires because different materials dry out at different rates depending on your specific tears and environment. Before you bounce between brands, try the actual problem first - use rewetting drops made for contacts (not regular eye drops), force yourself to blink deliberately every few minutes, and honestly consider taking a 20-20-20 break (20 seconds looking 20 feet away every 20 minutes). If that doesn't cut it after a couple weeks, then experimenting with a different brand makes sense, but you'll have a better baseline to judge whether it actually helps.
Screen time is the real culprit here - when you're focused on a monitor, you blink way less and your tears dry out faster, so the contact itself becomes a problem even if it's fine in other situations. Before you spend money on a new brand, try the obvious fix: set a timer to look away every 20 minutes, blink deliberately a few times, and maybe grab some rewetting drops made specifically for contacts (not regular eye drops). One thing people gloss over is that some office environments have brutal air circulation or heating that makes dryness worse, so if possible, angle your desk away from vents or use a humidifier nearby. If none of that helps after a couple weeks, then yeah, switching to a more breathable lens material or dailies instead of reusables might be worth trying - but the screen habits are probably the main issue.
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