Eye strain explained

Eye strain
Synonym:	Asthenopia, aesthenopia

Eye strain, also known as asthenopia (from Greek a-sthen-opia, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἀσθενωπία,), is a common eye condition that manifests through non-specific symptoms such as fatigue, pain in or around the eyes, blurred vision, headache, and occasional double vision.^[1] Symptoms often occur after long-term use of computers, digital devices, reading or other activities that involve extended visual tasks^[2] which are broadly classified into external and internal symptom factors.^[3] The experience of eye strain when reading in dim light has given rise to the common misconception that such an activity causes permanent eye damage.^[4]

When concentrating on a visually intense task, such as continuously focusing on a book or computer monitor, the ciliary muscles and the extraocular muscles are strained. This causes discomfort, soreness or pain on the eyeballs. Closing the eyes for ten minutes and relaxing the muscles of the face and neck at least once an hour usually relieves the problem.

A page or photograph with the same image twice, but slightly displaced (from a printing mishap, a camera moving during the shot, etc.) can cause eye strain due to the brain misinterpreting the image fault as diplopia and trying in vain to adjust the sideways movements of the two eyeballs to fuse the two images into one.

Eye strain can also happen when viewing a blurred image (including images deliberately partly blurred for censorship), due to the ciliary muscle tightening trying in vain to focus the blurring out.

Symptoms

• blurred vision
• sore, tired, burning, or itching eyes
• difficulty concentrating
• dry eyes or watery eyes
• eye discomfort
• headaches
• irritated or burning eyes
• sensitivity to bright lights
• tired eyes
• sore eyes^{[5] [6]}

Therapy

Known methods of relieving strain of the ocular muscles are taking periodic breaks by closing the eyes.^[7]

See also

• Astigmatism
• Computer vision syndrome
• Eye examination
• Light-on-dark color scheme
• Ocular neurosis
• Photophobia
• Vision therapy
• Visual looming syndrome

Notes and References

1. Sheedy . James E. . Hayes . John N. . Engle . Jon . November 2003 . Is all asthenopia the same? . Optometry and Vision Science. 80 . 11 . 732–739 . 10.1097/00006324-200311000-00008 . 1040-5488 . 14627938. 16299425 .
2. FT . Vaz . SP . Henriques . DS . Silva . J . Roque . AS . Lopes . M . Mota . Digital Asthenopia: Portuguese Group of Ergophthalmology Survey . . April 2019 . 32 . 4 . 260–265 . 10.20344/amp.10942 . 31067419 . 10400.10/2236 . 148571110 . free .
3. JE . Sheedy . JN . Hayes . J . Engle . Is all asthenopia the same? . Optom Vis Sci . November 2003 . 80 . 11 . 732–739 . 10.1097/00006324-200311000-00008 . 14627938 . 16299425 .
4. Rachel C. Vreeman, Aaron E. Carroll, "Medical Myths", The British Medical Journal (now called The BMJ) 335:1288 (December 20, 2007),
5. B . Antona . AR . Barrio . A . Gascó . A . Pinar . M . González-Pérez . MC . Puell . Symptoms associated with reading from a smartphone in conditions of light and dark . Applied Ergonomics . April 2018 . 68 . 12–17 . 10.1016/j.apergo.2017.10.014 . 29409625 .
6. S . Jaiswal . L . Asper . J . Long . A . Lee . K . Harrison . B . Golebiowski . Ocular and visual discomfort associated with smartphones, tablets and computers: what we do and do not know . Clinical & Experimental Optometry . September 2019 . 102 . 5 . 463–477 . 10.1111/cxo.12851 . 30663136 . 58558016 .
7. S . Lertwisuttipaiboon . T . Pumpaibool . KJ . Neeser . N . Kasetsuwan . Effectiveness of a participatory eye care program in reducing eye strain among staff computer users in Thailand . Risk Manag Healthc Policy . May 2017 . 10 . 71–80 . 10.2147/RMHP.S134940 . 28546777 . 5436759 . free .