Discomfort in the eyes from the computer: why do the eyes hurt from the monitor?

Symptoms of computer eye pain

They are expressed differently. But it always involves discomfort and pain, and decreased visual acuity. Main features:

The computer hurts my eyes. Similar sensations arise as a result of continuous work for several hours. The pain does not stop for a long time and appears suddenly. The pain is so intense that it is impossible to look at the screen. You have to close your eyes. This happens instinctively to protect against harmful influences. The pain in the eyes from the computer is caused by overstrain due to small letters and their constant change. Therefore, it clearly manifests itself when printing large texts.
Pressing sensation. When the computer hurts your eyes, it manifests itself in a feeling of heaviness and pressure on the eyeball. A similar effect is also associated with overvoltage.
Decreased vision sharpness. It is impossible to distinguish small letters that were previously clearly visible. This effect goes away after a few seconds, but it is an alarming signal.

Thus, the eyes hurt in different ways. But pain indicates the presence of a disease or can lead to them. Therefore, you need to understand that a computer is a source of increased danger. And if pain, strong pressing sensations, or pain in the eyeballs appear, you must stop working. In addition to simple breaks, preventive techniques should be used, drops and strengthening agents should be used.

What diseases cause eye pain?

Many people have eye pain due to ophthalmological and systemic diseases. The reason may be in the organs of vision or in other disorders. The choice of specialist and treatment depends on the cause of the pain; in order to identify it, laboratory and instrumental examination methods are prescribed.

There are a number of ophthalmological diseases and conditions that can affect soft tissues, blood vessels, and nerves located in the organs of vision.

They cause acute and chronic pain:

Increased eye strain. It occurs in people who spend a long time in front of a computer, phone, TV, or tablet. Pain occurs when reading books frequently in poor conditions, for example, in low light.
Entry of a foreign body. It can penetrate the cornea due to strong winds, sparks from a welding machine, or for other reasons. Acute pain, redness, photophobia, increased sensitivity, and spasm of the eyelids occur.
Conjunctivitis. It can be of an allergic, bacterial, viral nature. This is a disease in which the conjunctiva of the eye becomes inflamed. Redness, swelling, pain, and photophobia appear. With bacterial conjunctivitis, purulent exudate is released.
Blepharitis is inflammation of the eyelids. It can develop due to the proliferation of fungi, viruses, bacteria, parasites (eyelash mites). The eyelids swell and an abscess filled with fluid may form under the skin.
Keratitis is inflammation of the cornea. The inflammatory process begins as a result of mechanical damage, burns, and the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms. If the disease lasts a long time, the cornea becomes cloudy and visual acuity decreases.
Glaucoma is an increase in intraocular pressure due to impaired outflow of secreted fluid. There are anterior and posterior chambers in the eyeball, and fluid constantly circulates inside them. If it accumulates but does not come out, the pressure increases. This can lead to damage to the optic nerve, retinal detachment, and blindness.
Retinal diseases. They develop due to burns, mechanical damage, and malnutrition through blood vessels. If the retina detaches, the person goes blind.
Diseases of the optic nerve. Light streams pass through the eyes, hitting the rods and cones of the retina. From them, information in the form of nerve impulses passes through the nerve, entering the brain. The nerve is damaged due to malnutrition through blood vessels, mechanical damage, and infectious and inflammatory processes.
Strabismus, amblyopia. If both eyes see the picture in front of them incorrectly, this leads to increased strain. As a result, not only your eyes hurt, but also your head.

There are diseases that develop not in the eyes, but in peripheral organs; with their prolonged development, complications arise from the organs of vision, this also leads to pain:

Diabetes. A large amount of glucose accumulates in the patient’s blood, which is not distributed to the tissues, but binds to cholesterol and forms plaques. They are transported through large and small vessels, including the microcirculation of the eyes. This leads to blockage, severe pain, decreased or complete absence of vision.
Atherosclerosis. Cholesterol accumulates in the patient’s blood, which spreads through the vessels, clogging their lumen. The mechanism of the disease is the same as for diabetes mellitus.
Arterial hypertension. Increased pressure puts stress on the endothelium. This leads to rupture of the vessel wall and hemorrhage inside the eyeball. With chronic hypertension, the function of the visual organs decreases, and constant headaches and eye pain occur.
Ischemic disease. A person experiences spasm of peripheral vessels. If this happens in the eyes, nutrition is disrupted. Gradually, the visual organs will stop working. Severe spasm causes severe pain.
Vasculitis, increased fragility of blood vessels. If the endothelium is fragile, this leads to hemorrhage in any part of the body. Painful sensations appear during spasms, which causes a decrease in vision function.
Neuropathy. The inflammatory disease can spread to the optic nerve, this is dangerous because it connects to the brain. This causes a decrease in its functionality and constant pain.

For each disease, a separate treatment is determined. Therefore, diagnostics are initially carried out, identifying the nature of pain, decreased vision function and other symptoms.

Physiological features

Soreness can be due to several reasons. First of all, you should point out eye fatigue. After all, long hours of watching small letters or numbers on the screen are not natural for the eye. Such loads will inevitably lead to pain.

Moreover, the blinking cycle increases when working at a computer. That is, a person begins to blink less often. Consequently, the sore eye dries out and hurts even more.

In addition, excessive loads lead to increased secretion of intraocular fluid. This means that it accumulates and causes an increase in intraocular pressure. This is expressed in severe pain and pupil dilation.

It is necessary to understand the consequences that such overvoltage can lead to:

If your eyes begin to sting and the sensation does not stop within a minute, this is a sign of severe tension. This can cause a condition called myopia. That is, myopia. You can get sick after several years of constant work at the monitor;
Overexertion is the cause of retinal diseases. Severe cutting pain indicates problems with it. And constant repetition of the load can lead to detachment and total loss of vision;
Monitor voltage causes dry eye syndrome. The sore eye does not get wet from blinking. And, as mentioned above, the eyeball lacks moisture. Only compliance with the work schedule and taking special medications can help.

Thus, spending a long time in front of a computer monitor can lead to serious illness. Therefore, it is necessary to help the eyes using folk remedies and medications. This will help avoid treatment of serious diseases.

Short

The computer screen itself does not spoil your eyesight; what matters is how much time you spend on it. An hour a day is okay. If you work full time, take care of your eyes.
The most common problem for people who spend a lot of time in front of a monitor is computer vision syndrome. The eyes rarely blink, do not receive the necessary moisture, become red and sore.
If you work a lot at the computer, set up a comfortable workspace for yourself, adjust the lighting, take your eyes off the screen every 20 minutes - look around or out the window, give your eyes a rest.
Instead of visual gymnastics, it is better to take care of sufficient hydration of your eyes. Blink more often and use artificial tears.
If you feel that your visual acuity has disappeared, your head often hurts, your eyes are tired, red and as if in sand, make an appointment with an ophthalmologist.

First steps for eye pain when working at a computer

As a rule, pain appears during direct work at the computer. In this case, you must immediately lean away from the monitor and close your eyes. It is important to do this immediately after severe pain appears.

You need to give your eyes a rest. Blinking helps a lot. You should blink at least 100 times. After which, you need to take a break for 10–15 minutes. But if a child rolls his eyes when using a computer, this is a serious reason to visit an ophthalmologist for timely treatment.

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How not to damage your eyesight if you work at a computer for hours

Maintain a 20–20–20 visual pattern

This is the most important recommendation from the American Society of Optometrists. Every 20 minutes you need to move your gaze for 20 seconds to any object that is 20 feet away from you. 20 feet is about 6 meters. This time will be enough for you to look around at all your colleagues, wave your hand, and let your eyes relax. After two hours of continuous work, it is advisable to take a break for 15 minutes.