After sitting on computer, eyes want to Rest

[Ru416]

Hi,

I am a 17 year old teen. I sit on my computer a lot. Recently I have bought an LCD screen and replaced the old CRT Monitor because I was having eye problems. Specifically, my eyes would start to hurt after a while on the computer, and I was worried, so I bought the new LCD monitor. Then, I had my eyesight checked and found that from my 20/20 vision, my eyesight had weakened, and I was prescribed eyeglasses for "looking far" (meaning they are not reading glasses)

But, that has not fixed the problem. Even with the new monitor, I am still having problems. My eyes get dry (but I am not sure whether they are truly dry because I can move them around perfectly), they start to hurt and it feels painful to even look anywhere. So, it basically feels like I have to close my eyes and not open them. I am really confused as to what is going on with my sight. Also, sometimes, my right eye becomes "loose", meaning that the right eyelid is completely lazy and it just falls (but it doesn't 'force' my eye to close, it just lags down). When this happens, right above and behind the right eye, my head hurts.

Another thing that I have noticed is that when I am in school, specifically when it's been 5 hours that I am in school, my right eye gets a weird shape in front of it. So wherever I look, the shape (which is semi-transparent) is visible.The shape is extremely small, but I believe it's on the lens of my eye, but I don't know where it comes from, and it always comes there.

I have this problem for a while now, so it would be nice to know what it could be so that I can figure out how to fix it. It's extremely distractive because it keeps me from doing my work properly.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS]

You need to start with an eye exam by an Eye MD ophthalmologist. Find one at www.aao.org   the tiny shape sounds like a floater. Use the search feature and read about them.

Use artifical tears, every 10-15 minutes look away from the computer screen across the room and blink hard 4-6 times.

JCH III MD

[Ru416]

Thank you very much for your response. Actually, I read about "floater" just after posting my question. I didn't know what to call them, that is the reason why I could not explain it well. So yes, I do have a floater which comes up randomly after some time. I would like to know how to fix this problem of floater. Also, I drink a lot of water, does that have anything to do with my eyes too?

I never thought about artificial tears. But, I am going to use that as you recommended. Thanks.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS]

Water is not a cause of floaters or a prevention of same.

JCH III IMD