Is Work-Related Eye Strain Causing Long-Term Vision Issues?

[flyingpig]

Yeah my eyesight has become really poor and I have to wear glasses over the years. I try "getting off" and "getting rest", but sometimes I just have so much work it is impossible.

At my university pretty much everyone wears glasses.

What aer your methods? I am curious. I don't want to become blind.

 

[Geezer]

Yeah my eyesight has become really poor and I have to wear glasses over the years. I try "getting off" and "getting rest", but sometimes I just have so much work it is impossible.

At my university pretty much everyone wears glasses.

What aer your methods? I am curious. I don't want to become blind.

My eyesight definitely worsened as I progressed in University. In high school, I had 20/20 vision; now I can't function without glasses. The same thing happened with my youngest sister: she started college with perfect vision, but by the time she graduated, she needed glasses, too.

Interestingly, we have another sister who didn't go to college; that sister still has perfect vision.

 

[Proton Soup]

i became myopic right after taking a drafting course in college. before that, i had 20/20 vision.

 

[Evo]

Oh dear, computer use, reading, staring at things cannot damage your vision, at most you can get temporary eye strain. There are many scientific studies on this, but I'm not going to start digging them up.

This is a very good article that goes into some detail about vision myths.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/EyeHealthNews/11-eye-myths-debunked/story?id=8919023

This is a good summary.

http://www.pasadenaeye.com/faq/faq08/faq08_text.html

 

[DaveC426913]

Yeah my eyesight has become really poor and I have to wear glasses over the years. I try "getting off"...

This is an old wives tale. It does not really affect your vision.

 

[Ivan92]

I'm just curious, what can cause poor vision through time? Is age one of them?

 

[Evo]

I'm just curious, what can cause poor vision through time? Is age one of them?

Aging is a big culprit. Here's some information.

http://www.allaboutvision.com/over60/vision-changes.htm

 

[bobze]

Yeah my eyesight has become really poor and I have to wear glasses over the years. I try "getting off" and "getting rest", but sometimes I just have so much work it is impossible.

At my university pretty much everyone wears glasses.

What aer your methods? I am curious. I don't want to become blind.

Its more likely due to aging. As you age the lens becomes more stiff, which means those little muscles that tighten the suspensory ligaments have a tougher job for it. Which means you end up with less focusing power as you age. The fancy name of it is http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002021/"

 

[Proton Soup]

there is at least an association with education

Optom Vis Sci. 2011 Jun 2. [Epub ahead of print]
Association of Education and Occupation with Myopia in COMET Parents.
Gwiazda J, Deng L, Dias L, Marsh-Tootle W; The COMET Study Group.
Source

*PhD, FAAO †PhD ‡OD, MS, FAAO Vision Science Department, The New England College of Optometry, Boston, Massachusetts (JG, LDeng), Department of Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University Health Sciences Center, Stony Brook, New York (LDias), and Department of Optometry, The University of Alabama, Birmingham School of Optometry, Birmingham, Alabama (WM-T).
Abstract

PURPOSE.: To investigate refractive error, especially myopia, in parents of myopic children and its association with education and occupation. METHODS.: Six hundred twenty-seven parents (n = 375 mothers and 252 fathers) of the 469 myopic 6- to <12-year-old children enrolled in COMET provided refraction data as well as answered questions about their education and occupation. Eighty-five percent of the refractions were obtained by non-cycloplegic autorefraction (Nidek ARK 700A), and 15% were obtained from the most recent prescription. RESULTS.: The mean age ± SD of the parents was 44.26 ± 5.81 years, and their mean spherical equivalent refraction was -2.34 ± 2.94 D. Parents with higher education (college degree or greater) had significantly more myopia (-2.97 ± 2.98 D) than parents with lower education (-1.72 ± 2.76 D). The odds of being myopic were significantly higher in the higher education group (multivariate odds ratio = 2.12, 95% confidence interval = 1.41 to 3.19). Mean myopia also differed significantly by occupation, with parents in white collar jobs (-2.87 ± 3.10 D) significantly more myopic than those in blue collar jobs (-1.21 ± 2.02 D) by 1.66 D (p < 0.001). The odds of being myopic between the two occupation groups were of borderline significance (multivariate odds ratio = 1.61, 95% confidence interval = 0.999 to 2.60). CONCLUSIONS.: The parents of myopic children participating in a clinical trial of lenses to slow the progression of myopia had a high prevalence of myopia that was associated with their level of education and to a lesser extent with their choice of occupation. To our knowledge, this is the first account of refractive errors, education, and occupation in parents of a large group of myopic children.

PMID:
21642891
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

 

[turbo]

Its more likely due to aging. As you age the lens becomes more stiff, which means those little muscles that tighten the suspensory ligaments have a tougher job for it. Which means you end up with less focusing power as you age. The fancy name of it is http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002021/"

And this is the reason that as people age, they tend to need cheap reading glasses for close work (perfectly fine if you need no other correction!), or bifocals/progressive lenses with extra magnification in the bottom segments of the lenses. I generally ask my eye doctor for a bit of extra correction, since I enjoy fly-fishing, and it can be hard to see well enough to tie on minuscule dry-flies at dusk when the mayfly hatches are most active and my pupils are quite dilated. I'm a board-certified optician, and used to work closely with my ophthalmologist years back (making eyeglasses for the practice that employed him) so he gives me a lot of leeway in devising my prescriptions (general correction, astigmatic correction, and "add" for presbyopia).

 

[fluidistic]

I don't think that age is the big guilty guy here. I'm guessing that flying pig is myopic and in his early 20's rather than presbyopic.
I became myopic at 15 and it worsened slowly up till now (I'm 24). I can see well (neat) objects at around 7 cm from my eyes. I've a friend who's more myopic than I and he can see neat at about 5 to 6 cm from his eyes (we tested this in a physics lab :D ).
Maybe our eyes are changing form? Becoming more like an egg rather than a round ball. I'd like to know the reason(s) why an eye might change its form.

 

[Evo]

there is at least an association with education

Actually it is due to the fact that myopia can be inherited.

And my "oh dear" comment was about a post another made that was deleted, not addressed to you.

From my ABC News link

Studies show that problems such as nearsightedness and farsightedness seem to have some relation to whether a parent had the problem.

Reading has not been linked to developing myopia.

An extensive literature on the possible environmental and genetic risk factors for myopia exists, but the strength of many associations is often weak, and prior results are often contradictory. Commonly investigated risk factors include environmental factors such as near work and educational level, as well as parental history, a possible indicator of genetic susceptibility.1 The present enigma is that the total contribution of near work and parental history (a possible measure of hereditary factors) is small. From the Orinda Longitudinal Study of Myopia, for instance, the model R2 of refractive error with the explanatory variables of grade in school, parental history of myopia, and diopter-hours of near work was 13%.2 These uncertainties suggest that other lesser known factors may disturb emmetropization (the process by which normal ocular growth is mediated to ensure that the adult eye remains emmetropic) and lead to development of myopia and excessive eye growth.2

It has long been observed in different countries (e.g., Israel, the United States, and New Zealand) that myopic children have higher intelligence quotient (IQ) test scores.3 4 5 6 7 8 While an explanation for the association of myopia with higher IQ is lacking, it has been hypothesized that there may be a link between eyeball axial length and cerebral development, or that both myopia and IQ may be influenced by the same genes.4 9 Further, there is uncertainty about whether IQ is associated with myopia, because children who perform better in IQ tests may simply read more, and perhaps IQ may only be a surrogate marker for near-work activity. We evaluated in this report the relationship between nonverbal IQ and myopia in Singapore children aged 10 to 12 years in the context of other myopia risk factors, including reading.

http://www.iovs.org/content/45/9/2943.full

 

[Proton Soup]

Actually it is due to the fact that myopia can be inherited.

And my "oh dear" comment was about a post another made that was deleted, not addressed to you.

From my ABC News link


Reading has not been linked to developing myopia.



http://www.iovs.org/content/45/9/2943.full

ok. but now we're in IQ is genetic territory. not that i am necessarily averse to controversial topics.

 

[turbo]

It has been been surmised that the dominance of some families in jewelry, engraving, and other close-work trades prior to the invention of corrective lenses could be attributed to myopia running in families. Years ago, when I was studying opticianry, I ran into a story that hypothesized that some craftsmen might have tumbled onto the principle of a pin-hole aperture (combined with very bright illumination) to get sharp vision at short distances. I don't recall any supporting documentation, though that would likely have been a closely-guarded family secret, if it were true.

 

[Evo]

ok. but now we're in IQ is genetic territory. not that i am necessarily averse to controversial topics.

Well, I look at the statement in the report

While an explanation for the association of myopia with higher IQ is lacking

There is no proof, it's speculation.

 

[turbo]

Close work without magnification...

http://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/23-2/Close.pdf

 

[bobze]

I don't think that age is the big guilty guy here. I'm guessing that flying pig is myopic and in his early 20's rather than presbyopic.
I became myopic at 15 and it worsened slowly up till now (I'm 24). I can see well (neat) objects at around 7 cm from my eyes. I've a friend who's more myopic than I and he can see neat at about 5 to 6 cm from his eyes (we tested this in a physics lab :D ).
Maybe our eyes are changing form? Becoming more like an egg rather than a round ball. I'd like to know the reason(s) why an eye might change its form.

The "over the years" comment by the OP lead me to the assumption it was age. Of course since he hasn't put his/her age out there it's kind of hard tell!

To answer your question though, your eyes change in their teen years because they aren't done developing yet. Eyes finish development and vision tends to stabilize in your teens (early teens IIRC). From your early twenties on its pretty much all down hill. Your lenses tend to thin out, increasing curvature as you age. Which makes it harder to focus on those near objects.

And this is the reason that as people age, they tend to need cheap reading glasses for close work (perfectly fine if you need no other correction!), or bifocals/progressive lenses with extra magnification in the bottom segments of the lenses. I generally ask my eye doctor for a bit of extra correction, since I enjoy fly-fishing, and it can be hard to see well enough to tie on minuscule dry-flies at dusk when the mayfly hatches are most active and my pupils are quite dilated. I'm a board-certified optician, and used to work closely with my ophthalmologist years back (making eyeglasses for the practice that employed him) so he gives me a lot of leeway in devising my prescriptions (general correction, astigmatic correction, and "add" for presbyopia).

Fly-fishing is an acceptable excuse to use glasses

Close work without magnification...

http://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/23-2/Close.pdf

Interesting hypothesis. What it lacks in hard evidence it makes up for in pure plausibility though. Good read nonetheless, thanks Turbo.

 

[fluidistic]

The "over the years" comment by the OP lead me to the assumption it was age. Of course since he hasn't put his/her age out there it's kind of hard tell!

To answer your question though, your eyes change in their teen years because they aren't done developing yet. Eyes finish development and vision tends to stabilize in your teens (early teens IIRC). From your early twenties on its pretty much all down hill. Your lenses tend to thin out, increasing curvature as you age. Which makes it harder to focus on those near objects.

Thanks for the information. So basically to answer the OP's question "What aer your methods? I am curious. I don't want to become blind. ", there's no solution. Age modifies our lens, there's nothing we can do about it. Personally my glasses are my favourite object and I wouldn't change them for nothing :) I didn't change them since I'm 17 although I changed the lenses.
We'll become each time more myopic and in 1 or 2 decades we will suffer from presbyopia. We'll not be blind though; considering that a possible cataract will be eradicated by a surgery.

 

[turbo]

My ophthalmologist buddy is keeping track of beginning cataracts in my eyes. Back in the 60's I spent countless days on ski patrol, and the sunglasses we had back then were not UV-resistant. The problem is that attenuating the brightness let your pupils open wider, letting more of the UV in, and glare off snow is especially heavy in UV.

In retrospect, my weekend (winters) job in HS over 40 years ago is causing vision problems. So far, not too bad, but the glare and flare from oncoming cars with high-intensity headlights is annoying.