Long days at a screen tend to produce two kinds of complaint at once. One is in the eyes themselves: burning, grittiness, dryness, and blurring that clears when you blink. The other sits around them: a heavy head, an ache across the brow and temples, and poor sleep after a long day of screen work.
Ayurveda has a separate therapy for each, and the two names are easy to mix up — Shiro Pichu is for the head, Netra Tarpanam for the eyes. This article explains the difference, why they are sometimes planned together, and what you can change at your desk.
Shiro Pichu works on the head. Cotton is folded into a thick pad, soaked in warm medicated oil, set on the crown and lightly bound, then soaked again as it cools, so the scalp stays warm and oiled for 30 to 45 minutes. Nothing is placed on or near the eyes.
Netra Tarpanam works on the eyes. Each eye is enclosed in a small wall of black-gram dough, and lukewarm medicated ghee — not oil — is poured in to cover the closed lids. You open and close your eyes gently under it, and the session takes 20 to 30 minutes.
The names themselves help to keep them apart. Pichu means a pad, and it sits on the head; netra means the eye, and tarpana means nourishing or replenishing it.
The Ayurvedic reading is heat and dryness. Hours of close focus, infrequent blinking and air conditioning blowing across the face dry the surface of the eye and aggravate Pitta in the head, which is why the burning builds as the day goes on.
Conventional eye care describes the same thing in its own terms. People blink less when they concentrate on a screen, so the tear film breaks up and the surface of the eye dries, and the focusing muscles stay tense when you look at one near distance for hours. Both explanations point the same way: moisture, rest for the focusing muscles, and fewer hours of uninterrupted staring.
Children and teenagers who spend hours on online classes or games get the same strain, and the same desk habits apply to them. For a child, an eye test comes first, and any therapy the doctor plans is gentler and shorter.
Netra Tarpanam is planned for the eyes themselves: dryness, grittiness, burning, tired eyes by evening, and blurring that comes and goes. It is usually given as a short course of three to seven days and repeated from time to time if the complaint returns.
Shiro Pichu is used where the head carries the strain: a heavy, hot head after work, tension at the crown and temples, irritability, or difficulty falling asleep after a screen-heavy day. It is also traditionally used for mental fatigue and hair-root care, which often travel with the same picture.
Many people have both sets of symptoms, and the doctor may plan the two in the same visit or on alternate days. Shiro Abhyangam for the scalp, neck and shoulders, or Nasyam where headache and sinus heaviness come with it, is sometimes added.
Netra Tarpanam uses ghee rather than oil because the classical texts treat ghee as cooling and nourishing to the eyes, which suits a hot, dry picture. Lens wearers are asked to leave contact lenses out for the rest of the day, and anything you put in your eyes, lubricating drops included, should be mentioned at the consultation.
Shiro Pichu begins with you seated, which suits people who find lying flat uncomfortable. It leaves oil in the hair, so plan a wash later and keep your head covered from wind and air conditioning on the way home.
Neither therapy is given during an eye infection, a fever or a heavy cold. Netra Tarpanam also waits after any eye surgery until your ophthalmologist clears it.
Therapy without a change in the conditions that caused the strain tends to need repeating. A few habits matter more than any single session:
From the Ayurvedic side, cooling food and enough water through the day are part of the plan, and late nights are treated as a cause rather than a side effect. Splashing the closed eyes with plain cool water after work is a traditional habit; do not put anything else into your eyes unless it has been prescribed.
Strain from screen work builds slowly and eases with rest. See an ophthalmologist urgently for anything that comes on suddenly or does not fit that pattern:
If you have not had an eye test in the last year or two, have one. A change in spectacle power is a common cause of strain that no therapy will alter, so come with the up-to-date prescription.
At the consultation, Dr.V.Vaitheeshwari B.A.M.S., asks about your screen hours, sleep, digestion and any eye drops or medicines you use, then decides which therapy fits. Cost depends on the plan, and you are told before you book — call +91 81229 39197.
Sri Vinayaga Ayurvibe — 12/597, Main Road, Nethaji Nagar Main Rd, Nookampalayam, Perumbakkam, Chennai 600131. Phone: +91 81229 39197.