Dry eye symptoms in offices and deteriorated work performance – A perspective

Wolkoff, Peder

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2020.106704

Cited by 30 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 201 publications

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“…It is expected that the fan use reduces humidity in the near-head area and/or hasten tear evaporation, resulting in dry eye (lip) symptoms. Also, because of personal risk factors such as medication status and the use of personal care products, the elderly is more vulnerable to the development of dry eye syndromes [48]. Hence, it is possible that using facial and neck cooling fans may make dry eyes and dry lips more common in the elderly.…”

Section: Future Perspective and Practical Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Use of Wearable Face and Neck Cooling Fans to Improve Occupant Thermal Comfort in Warm Indoor Environments

et al. 2021

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Face and neck cooling has been found effective in improving thermal comfort during exercise in the heat despite the fact that the surface area of human face and neck regions accounts for only 5.5% of the entire body. Presently very little documented research has been conducted to investigate cooling the face and neck only to improve indoor thermal comfort. In this study, two highly energy efficient wearable face and neck cooling fans were used to improve occupant thermal comfort in two warm indoor conditions (30 and 32 °C). Local skin temperatures and perceptual responses while using the two wearable cooling fans were examined and compared. Results showed that both cooling fans could significantly reduce local skin temperatures at the forehead, face and neck regions by up to 2.1 °C. Local thermal sensation votes at the face and neck were decreased by 0.82–1.21 scale unit at the two studied temperatures. Overall TSVs decreased by 1.03–1.14 and 1.34–1.66 scale units at 30 and 32 °C temperatures, respectively. Both cooling fans could raise the acceptable HVAC temperature setpoint to 32.0 °C, resulting in a 45.7% energy saving over the baseline HVAC setpoint of 24.5 °C. Furthermore, occupants are advised to use the free-control cooling mode when using those two types of wearable cooling fans to improve thermal comfort. Finally, despite some issues on dry eyes and dry lips associated with those wearable cooling fans, it is concluded that those two highly energy-efficient wearable cooling fans could greatly improve thermal comfort and save HVAC energy.

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Section: Future Perspective and Practical Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Use of Wearable Face and Neck Cooling Fans to Improve Occupant Thermal Comfort in Warm Indoor Environments

et al. 2021

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“…27 Although the details of the mechanism are not yet clear, eye discomfort and blinking reflect the tear-film condition which is affected by surrounding environments; an unstable tear film is reported to cause more frequent blinking and more intense discomfort. [28][29][30][31][32] The tear film formed by blinking gradually evaporates during eye-opening, resulting in dry spots on the cornea. A shorter tear-film break-up time (BUT), defined as the time elapsed between eye-opening after a blink and the appearance of the first dry spot, indicates a more unstable tear film.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of indoor low humidity on eye discomfort and associated physiological responses in soft contact lens and non-lens wearers

Ito

Takada

2022

Indoor and Built Environment

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Eye discomfort due to dryness is one of the major complaints reported in indoor spaces. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the effect of low humidity on eye discomfort in soft contact lens (SCL) and non-CL wearers. In addition to subjective sensations, physiological parameters related to eye discomfort including tear-film parameters and blink patterns were comparatively evaluated between relative humidities of 10% and 45% at 23°C. For both the SCL and non-CL wearer groups, low humidity had a significant effect on some of the measured physiological parameters. The SCL group showed lower ocular surface temperature and larger temperature differential after blinking at 10% relative humidity (RH) than that at 45% RH, indicating faster tear evaporation. Furthermore, their tear films tended to be thinner and have a shorter break-up time at 10% RH than at 45% RH. The non-CL group showed a significantly higher blink frequency and longer eye-closure time at 10% RH than at 45% RH, presumably as a compensatory response to the disturbance of the tear film due to low humidity. These results suggest the importance of humidity control in indoor spaces in terms of tear-film quality, which contributes to eye discomfort.

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“…Green building rating tools emerged, in part, as a reaction to the implementation of energy efficiency measures following the energy crisis of the 1970s (left side of Figure 1). An exclusive focus on energy performance in early years often resulted in undesirable secondary effects on occupants, such as reduced wellbeing and increase in sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms and other illnesses, and this regardless of the effective energy efficiency of buildings (Mølhave 1989;Sundell et al 1994;Tham et al 2015;Wolkoff 2020). Studies often related the incidence of these health outcomes to inadequate ventilation as well as exposures to various physical, biological and chemical hazards (Joshi 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%