Therapeutic Eye Masks:
Relax Your Eyes with Mask Therapy

Therapeutic eye masks are excellent for relieving eye tension if you have:

• Eye strain from doing too much close-up work
• Computer Vision Syndrome (which affects 75% of users)
• Been doing daily eye exercises to improve vision naturally

Relaxing your eyes after eye exercises is particularly important because seeing clearly is as much about eye muscle flexibility as it is about eye muscle relaxation.

In this eye mask review, I'll cover a few different products made specifically for relaxing the eyes and facial muscles using heat, cold and pressure.

These masks also relieve:

How Healthy Are Your Eyes?

How do your eyes feel right now? Are they dry, itchy or tired? Have you spent several hours at the computer already or has the day only just begun?

It wasn't until I paid attention to my eyes that I realized just how badly I was treating them. I would sit at a computer for 3-4 hours without a break and completely ignore the tension and discomfort in my eyes. But this is a warning sign - it's your eyes telling you: "stop, this is too much!"

The danger of Computer Vision Syndrome is that it can seriously make your natural eyesight deteriorate. In the short term, using a computer monitor reduces your blink rate (from 16-20 to 6-8 blinks per minute) causing eye irritation.

The big picture problem is this: near-point stress is increased, putting hours of eye strain on your ciliary muscles. It becomes harder to focus, accelerating any predisposition for myopia (nearsightedness) and if you're over 30, it can form the basis of presbyopia (aging vision that affects everyone, eventually).

Don't just ignore it. Alleviate the symptoms of CVS before it gets any worse. The article linked above will give you some important advice to follow while using the computer for prolonged periods. And for relieving the massive eye strain it causes, I recommend one of the eye masks below.

Bead Bliss Soothing Eye Mask

The Bead Bliss Soothing Eye Mask is my favorite. It's made up of thousands of tiny beads distributed around your eyes to provide a calming gentle pressure. The real therapy comes from heating or cooling the mask. I prefer to heat it and apply a firm pressure to relieve headaches, facial tension, eye strain, congestion and even allergy pains. You can also cool it for long-lasting relief from headaches, sinus pressure and stress. To Chill - Pop it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, or in the fridge for 60 minutes. You can also leave it in the fridge permanently for quick relief any time, just remember to keep it in a plastic bag so it doesn't get affected by food odors.

To Heat - Microwave the mask until it's warm to the touch. The instructions say 15 seconds but my microwave is pretty weak, and it took a full minute. Only microwave until it is warm to the touch though, not hot.

Quick Tip - Don't apply the mask directly to your skin - it will quickly feel too hot or too cold, which bypasses the whole soothing and relaxing nature of the experience. I recommend you buy the material cover, which can be used with all therapeutic eye masks from Dream Essentials for the same reason.

My rating: (5/5 stars)

Relax with Bead Bliss Soothing Eye Masks

Solace Gel Soothing Eye Mask

The Solace Gel Soothing Eye Mask is specifically designed to cool and relax tired eyes. The gel filling allows the mask to mould closely to your face, and the eye holes prevent the cooling gel from being applied directly to your eyeballs (it's in the surrounding muscle where tension builds up). When cooled, this eye mask is particularly good for soothing sinuses, head colds, sunburn, and tired or puffy eyes. When warmed, it is excellent for relieving tension associated with eye strain. Just having eye masks like this to hand will also encourage you to take five minutes to relax your eyes each day, which is key to good vision health.

The downside to this eye mask is it can't be heated in the microwave - a minor inconvenience really. It is thinner than the Bead Bliss mask, so feels lighter on the face. I guess it really depends how much pressure you want on your eyes.

To Chill - Pop it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, or in the fridge for 60 minutes. Make sure you never freeze the mask solid.

To Heat - Fill a sink or bowl with hot water (not boiling) and soak the mask for 5-10 minutes. Use the straps to remove it. Not suitable for the microwave.

Quick Tip - Don't apply the mask directly to your skin - it will quickly feel too hot or too cold, which bypasses the whole soothing and relaxing nature of the experience. I recommend you buy the material cover, which can be used with all therapeutic eye masks from Dream Essentials for the same reason.

My rating: (4/5 stars)

Relax with Solace Gel Eye Masks

Spa Comforts Silk Eye Pillow

The Spa Comforts Eye Pillow is filled with flax seed and scented with lavender to calm your mood.

The fabric is soft and cooling, while the shape of the pillow moulds perfectly to your face, blocking out any light. The scented eye pillow also adds a soothing pressure to acupressure points surrounding the eyes to relieve tension and calm active muscles.

To Chill - I thoroughly enjoy the eye pillow at room temperature, however you can place it in a plastic bag and pop it in the freezer overnight for cool relief.

Quick Tip - Don't heat your eye pillow as it's not designed for that. If you want a microwaveable eye pillow, consider the novelty Warm Whiskers eye pillows.

My rating: (5/5 stars)

Relax with the Spa Comforts Silk Eye Pillow

Looking for other therapeutic eye masks?
View the full range at Dream Essentials!