National Video Game Day is July 8, an unofficial holiday celebrating gaming, be it the Nintendo Entertainment System of the 1980s to the modern-day PlayStation 5. Video games have become such a common part of the entertainment landscape, in fact, that organized, competitive video game groups are now big business.

And though they’re not playing on a stadium field, players in these “esports” groups still run their own health risks, mainly to their eyes. Writing for Optometric Management in our March 2020 feature “Game On: Esports in Practice,” Amanda Nanasy, OD, reviewed specific considerations for esports players and avid gamers, including how to identify such patients and what their needs are

“Optometrists should consider asking all their teen and 20-something patients whether they are into esports (inquiring even for just a week), as a litmus test,” she says. “ODs may be surprised with what they learn. Alternative ways to ask this question include: whether these patients are on the [video game-streaming platform] Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv ), whether they play ‘Fortnite’ [or other video games] … or how many hours these patients typically play video games.”

Dr. Nanasy also recommends utilizing a dry eye questionnaire to uncover frequent complaints from this younger demographic that would otherwise not typically complain about dry eye.

“I have found that a large majority of esports patients have multiple intermediate-distance screens,” Dr. Nanasy continues, “spending hours looking at them while making ‘searching’ eye movements, in all directions, for extended periods of time. Think of gamers like your patients who search and stare at spread sheets all day — but with much more intensity.”

To read the full article, go to bit.ly/OMesports . OM