Detailed Blinking Sequence
- Hold your fingers at the corners of your eyes by your temples and blink. If you feel anything, you are using your defense muscles that run along the side of your head. Your blinking muscles are above your eyelids.
- Read the blinking sequence. It is very important to do the pause step to make complete contact between the upper and lower lids (partial blinking is very common in people with dry eyes). When you are doing it correctly, you should feel no movement under your fingers.
- Blinking is very task-‐dependent. For example, if you spend a lot of time on the computer, you are probably blinking much less frequently and might want to post a copy of the blinking exercises nearby as a friendly reminder. (Other pastimes that decrease the blink rate are driving, reading, watching TV, working at your desk, or any concentrated visual task, etc.)
- Lastly, if you are having difficulty consciously incorporating the blinking exercises into your schedule (i.e. 5X/hour) you might want to think about something you do often in your daily routine, such as answering phone calls. Sending emails, drinking sips of water, getting dressed, etc. If you can condition yourself to make a full blink and give a little squeeze every time you perform this action it helps to make a complete blinking habit.
