Eye strain

Eye strain,also known asasthenopia(fromastheno-'loss of strength' and-opia'relating to the eyes'), is a commoneyecondition that manifests throughnon-specific symptomssuch asfatigue,pain in or around the eyes,blurred vision,headache,and occasionaldouble vision.Symptoms often occur after long-term use ofcomputers,digital devices, reading, or other activities that involve extended visual taskswhich are broadly classified into external and internal symptom factors.The experience of eye strain when reading in dim light has given rise to thecommon misconceptionthat such an activity causes permanent eye damage.

Eye strain
Other names	Asthenopia, aesthenopia, eyestrain
Specialty	Ophthalmology

When concentrating on a visually intense task, such as continuously focusing on a book or computer monitor, theciliary musclesand the extraocular muscles arestrained.This causes discomfort, soreness, and/or pain in the eyeballs. Closing the eyes for ten minutes and rela xing themuscles of the faceand neck at least once an hour usually relieves the problem.

A page or photograph which shows the same image twice, but slightly displaced–from aprintingmishap, a camera moving during the shot, etc.–can cause eye strain due to the brain misinterpreting the image fault asdiplopiaand reacting by adjusting the sideways movements of the two eyeballs, in an attempt to fuse the two images into one.

Eye strain can also happen when viewing a blurry image (including images deliberately partly blurred forcensorship), due to theciliary muscletightening in an attempt to focus the blurring out.

Symptoms

Symptoms of eye strain can include:

• blurred vision
• sore, tired, burning, oritchingeyes
• difficulty concentrating
• dry eyesor watery eyes
• eye discomfort
• headache
• irritated or burning eyes
• sensitivity to bright lights

Therapy

One known method of relieving strain of theocular musclesis taking periodic breaks by closing the eyes.

See also

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