Eye Strain...HELP!

[Doctor Wyldstyle]

I had this problem when I first started studying for the MCAT. I've been having a harder time seing far away because of the eye strain. My question for all you fellow med students is if you have had this problem too, and what did you do about it? Will it get better with rest? How much rest?

I'd hate to buy new contacts as I bought a year's worth of disposables.

If you have some input, please help!

Thanks,
Wyldstyle

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[Kirk]

It sounds like you might need to think about reading glasses... I would suggest going to your eye doc and having him check out your eyes. I waited too long, and it actually harmed my distance eyesite. Now I wear progressive bifocals (for distance correction and for reading). If I had gone earlier I may only have needed reading glasses.

My eye doctor said that the same thing had happened to him in school. He regretted not going to bifocals sooner as his vision would have been better now. The reason my eyes were being strained is that they don't quite line up so they have to work harder to look at something close. I remember after taking an hour long test and looking up the periodic table on the far wall was all fuzzy... Live and learn I guess!

Good luck, and get your eyes checked!

 

[carddr]

Why not consider laser surgery, Its getting cheaper all the time.

 

[Doctor Wyldstyle]

Thanks Kirk. I feel like I have the same problem sometime too. It seems that I can never get my vision/focus to line up w/both eyes. In fact, it always seems as if my overall vision is worse in my right eye no matter what I do even w/correction. I wear contacts most of the time and don't have a problem with seeing up close. Its just that constant reading impairs my ability to see far.

Why did you have to get bifocals?

 

[OD2BMike]

wyldstyle2000

You are suffering from a common binocular vision problem sometimes called accommodative infacility. The eyeballs' focusing mechanism, the ciliary body, gets fatigued after long periods of accommodation. When you've been reading for a while this fatigue causes the lens to get stuck in the near focus position and it can not change shape to let you see at distance. Like the previous poster said, reading glasses will go a long way for you. Lenses take away the accommodative demand and relax the ciliary body during near work tasks.

LASIK surgery is probably not a good option for you; at least not to help you with your near work. Sometimes O.D.s advocate vision therapy to help build up accommodative facility, but whether or not this would work for you depends on several factors. Best advice is to go get an eye exam; I guess you MD guys would go to your ophthalmologist, but we optometrists can help you with your binocular vision trouble as well. Hope this helps.

 

[Kirk]

Hey wyld! The reason I have to wear bifocals is because I need a small correction for distance vision (because I waited too long to get my eyes checked) and a correction for reading. I wear progressive lenses so you can't tell they are bifocals (there is no line between the two types of lenses). It was a little strange to get used to, but now I don't mind at all- and it is nice to look up from reading and still be able to see!

 

[Doctor Wyldstyle]

Thanks OD2BMike. I have one curious question for you though out of curiousity. When you are reading which is up close, are the cilliary muscles contracting or relaxing their pull on the lens of the eye? Just curiuos, thanks man!

 

[abs1]

wyldstyle2000,

When you are reading, the ciliary muscle is contracting which reduces its diameter. This causes the zonules (the stringy fibers that attach the lens to the ciliary muscle) to become slack which makes the lens bulge and increases the total plus power of the eye.....and voila! you can read!!

 

[OD2BMike]

Yep, I agree...right out of first year ocular anatomy. :wink:

 

[Doctora Foxy]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by abs1:
•wyldstyle2000,

When you are reading, the ciliary muscle is contracting which reduces its diameter. This causes the zonules (the stringy fibers that attach the lens to the ciliary muscle) to become slack which makes the lens bulge and increases the total plus power of the eye.....and voila! you can read!! •••••Hey my dad went to PCO

 

[abs1]

Mine did too! When did he graduate? Still practicing?