Many people suffer from eye strain, especially in today’s world of working from home. While increased computer work can be one cause, there are several others that can be found in a routine eye examination with us. Read on to learn more about how eye strain can come about and what can be done about it.
Refractive Error, Glasses, and Eye Strain
This is your glasses prescription, or the numbers that everyone gets when they have an eye examination. If you are not optimally corrected and are using your eyes intensely all day, like when looking at a computer screen, this can contribute to strain.
The type of severity of symptoms can depend on what exactly one’s prescription is and how old they are. People with nearsighted prescriptions, like the name suggests, have an easier time for their eyes up close even without glasses.
Farsighted people, on the other hand, need more help to see up close and can have more eye strain, headaches, and discomfort if they are not optimally corrected. This can be especially notable when the person is getting into their late thirties or early forties and their eyes are losing their natural ability to expend effort and focus for near objects.
Uncorrected astigmatism, when the eye requires different powers in two different orientations to see clearly, can also manifest as annoying visual symptoms and eye strain. Finally, some patients find blue light blocking lenses to increase their subjective comfort when looking at digital screens for long periods of time.
Binocular Vision Problems May Cause Eye Strain
Another common reason for eye discomfort is undiagnosed binocular vision abnormalities. The eyes might have a tendency to not be fully aligned, requiring effort to keep them focusing on one object for clear and single vision, or they may have trouble changing their power to see near or far objects.
The eyes may also be inflexible or weak in their ability to move inwards and outwards or up and down to match each other.
Treatment methods vary based on what exactly the problem is. Vision therapy, like physiotherapy but for the eyes, can go a long way in training the strength and accuracy of the muscles inside and outside of the eyes to improve their movement, alignment, flexibility, and endurance.
For other issues, glasses with powers that change the binocular response or that shift images for easier fusion can also help greatly.
Eyestrain May Result in Dry Eyes
Finally, dry eyes can also cause discomfort that mimics eye strain or headaches. For one, when we are focusing on a computer screen, a book, or anything that we are sufficiently focused on, we blink around 40 % less than normal.
Less blinking means less spreading of available tear fluid and less secretion of oils that prevent tear film evaporation onto the eye surface.
This can be remedied, of course, with the use of artificial tears. Preserved options can be used up to four times a day while preservative free lubricants can be used as much as one wants, especially during long bouts of screen time.
Breaks can be taken often, every 20 minutes, during long visual tasks to help the eyes recover. If you wear contact lenses and they begin to bother you or feel dry by the end of the day and cause associated strain, you can ask our eye doctor about moving to a different modality (daily disposable), material, design, brand, etc.