General EYE ADVICE

Effects of Increased Demand on the Eyes and Preventive Measures

Near work such as reading and writing and computer work/games are especially demanding on the focussing and convergence functions. Convergence is the ability of the eyes to cross inwards and aim at a near object. Fatigue of the accommodation (focussing) system leads to blurred vision for close work. Fatigue of the convergence system leads to viewing objects through only one eye at a time which often is associated with double vision. Children who spend many hours watching TV can also fatigue their eyes to the extent where they suffer from the above symptoms when attempting to perform close work.

Some children will have refractive errors (sight defects) that have not been eliminated by the fine-tuning mechanism responsible for achieving normal-sightedness. Eyestrain (fatigue) and adaptive changes occur more readily in the presence of refractive errors such as hypermetropia (long-sightedness) and astigmatism(see below) respectively.

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