Long term eye strain problem

Hi,

I am currently 21 years old in college, and I have been dealing with eye strain for a long time. When I was 15, I use to play this shooting game like 10 hours a day. It required a lot of concentration and staring into the middle of screen intensively. I pretty much play from 3pm - 2am everyday and play in the dark at night. I feel like this intense playing is the cause for my current problems.

So now, everyday my eyes feel extreme tired, heavy, baggy, and irritating. I can feel the bags at all times, and it feels very weird...almost like its bubbly inside...and its drag down which is very annoying. Often I use my hand to press against it and it'll feel better for the time being but I know it's just making it worst. I tried putting cold water on a cloth and have it on top of my eyes, and that kind of feels good and weird at the same time. But this problem makes me feel really tired everyday, and I can't get any work done. It's like I'm not physically tired, but my eyes are so tired that it makes me feel really tired. And no matter how long I sleep (usually 8-10 hrs), I still wake up with very heavy and tired eyes. I'll take a shower and feel a bit better, and then an hour later I'll feel so tired and want to head back to bed, but I can't fall asleep because I'm not actually tired. I just want to close my eyes. I'm still on the computer for 6 - 8 hours a day, from doing homework, reading news, and playing some games. I think it's hard to reduce the computer usage, but at the same time I know many friends that are using the same amount of computer and still doesn't have this problem. I've also noticed that my eyes have become very sensitive to light (especially sunlight)...and the snow reflection in the winter was also very irritating (more than usual). Also sometimes my eyes can't focus (it reads over a large area of the screen instead of single words).

Do you have any suggestions or ideas on how to solve this? Thanks for any advice you can give!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Yes you need to see an ophthalmolgist. Find one near you at www.aao.org  get in and get a medical eye exam soon. Computer games can tire the eyes but will not cause physicial damage.

JCHMD

[HateMyEyes]

Hi Doctor,

Thank you for the prompt reply. I looked up some ophthalmolgists on the website you gave and I wanted to know which part of the eye you think is the problem here? I noticed each MD has a specialty so I want to choose the one that's appropriate for me. Thank you very much!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Suggest you start with a "general" or "comprehensive" ophthalmololgist.
JCH MD