Eye Strain Discomfort

An Eye Strain Discomfort is an ocular discomfort that occurs due to prolonged eye use.

• AKA: Asthenopia.
• Context:
  • It can (typically) manifest as symptoms like headache, blurry vision, or dry eyes.
  • It can (often) be caused by prolonged exposure to screens, poor lighting conditions, or incorrect vision correction.
  • It can (often) be exacerbated by underlying issues like refractive errors or poor posture.
  • It can (often) be managed with the use of blue light filters, anti-reflective lenses, or proper ergonomic setups.
  • It can (often) affect individuals who spend extensive time on digital devices, such as computers, smartphones, or tablets.
  • ...
  • It can range from being a temporary discomfort to a chronic issue requiring medical attention.
  • ...
  • It can lead to discomfort that affects productivity and quality of life if not managed properly.
  • It can be alleviated by following the 20-20-20 rule, using proper lighting, or taking regular breaks.
  • It can lead to more severe issues like Computer Vision Syndrome if not addressed.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • a person experiencing eye strain after spending hours reading on a digital device without taking breaks.
  • an office worker developing eye strain due to prolonged computer use in a poorly lit environment.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Eye Infections, which involve a different etiology and often require specific medical treatment.
  • Migraines, which may include visual disturbances but are not solely related to eye strain.
• See: Computer Vision Syndrome, Refractive Errors, Ergonomics, Blue Light, Digital Eye Strain, Diplopia, Ophthalmology, Eye, Nonspecific Symptom, Blurred Vision, Headache, Acta Med Port, List of Common Misconceptions, The British Medical Journal, Ciliary Muscles.

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References

2024

• (Wikipedia, 2024) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_strain Retrieved:2024-8-23.
  • Eye strain, also known as asthenopia (from Greek a-sthen-opia, , ), 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. Symptoms often occur after long-term use of computers, digital devices, reading or other activities that involve extended visual tasks which are broadly classified into external and internal symptom factors. 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.

    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.

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