UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

I have noticed that, on days like today when I can take a walk by the river and focus on things five or six miles away, my sight is significantly better than on days when my eyes are fixed on my computer screen a foot or two away.

Is this just my imagination, or is there some recognized principle at work?

Andrew

I have that now, but I attribute that to the change in my Cornea during the day...

However, I would suspect that the strain on the eye when looking at things close up, such as Laptop / PC would be more than that of looking at things at distance?....

Hmmmmm not sure if that correlates to how the eye focuses and the total number of muscles at work .....

j

I have experienced the same. Thoug I suspect my new eye-drops to be respisible. The vision is much clearer than before. But the vision has become worse. Not much. But it may also be a temporary condition. that it will improve when I stop using the drops.

Andrew,

Basically looking into the distance oue eyes are parallel to each other and the muscles of the eye are pretty juch in their relaxed neutral position.

Looking at a computer, tv, book or anything close up our eyes tend to converge and with artificial light the iris clsoes up too and the lens has to work harder. Therefore the is a lot more stress looking at nar objects than far.

The light beams are pretty much parallel too so get distorted more consistently. Near objects, the light eneters at a more aqute angle and can be scatterd more.

I think that is what I learnt in O level Physics

Gareth

I knew I ought to have paid attention to something. Too late.

What you say makes perfect sense. thanks.

Andrew

I get that aswell since my graft. What gareth makes sense as im sitting infront of a pc most of the day and my vision is best in the monring and gets worse later in the day, some days alot worse later on in the day than others.

All the more reason to take small breaks at regular intervals when using a pc regardless of having an eye condition.

I have timer set to 30 minutes to remind me to take a break. Only a short one either to fetch a glass of water, put something in the post, comfort stops or to annoy a collegue

If I were Andrew and the view he has, I would just go outside and be part of the view.

Gareth

As before, and so often. when you're right, you're right!

andrew

Andrew-world ?

Depends what you mean by being better.
DO you mean that you see distant objects better when You've been outside and looking at them for some time, or that when you go back indoors you can see the screen better when you first sit down at it, or.....?

Personally, if I spend a long time out of doors, my vision deteriorates over the time. For ecample, I can generally see the last race in the afternoon far less well than the first, and that's not solely down to fading evening light.
I reckon it's partly due to my yes dryig int he wind and aprtly due to the length of time I've been trying to concentrate on seeing anything.
SOmetimes, the drying effect has been such that trying to read my racecaard and/or Racing Post has got very difficult/slow/painful.
However, I guess it is rare when one is outside for a long time to be doing something so vision critical as trying to distinguish jockeys' coloured silks at the far side of a racecourse. Normally, so long as the owrld looks bicely coloured and we don't actually keeping slipping and stumbling, we don't need to see too precisely, and don't notice if we don't.

Whereas sitting at a computer, or at a desk desk paperwork, if we can't read what's written, it's pretty obvious there's something amiss, and critical that we have to try harder.

I am also convinced that the brain is doing a phenomenal amount of work, reconciling the signals that come down the optic nerve to it and producing a coherent view of the world. The harder it has to work to do so, the more tired it is likley to get, and the harder it becomes to keep concentrating. SO after a long time of trying to work hard enough to get a mental grasp on what we are seeing, it becomes harder to make sense of it just because our brain is getting tired of trying to make sense of the images.
if you see what I mean....

SO if you spend part of the day out walking int he country, and only having to reconcile fuzzy or multiple images enough to enjoy the view and walk along the path safely, you brain probably doesn't have to work anything like so hard as it does to read the wriing on a computer screen, or on the paperwork you are supposed to be reading.
Even if you then go into the office and have to read things, it will have spent less of the day doing so, and is likley to get tired later.

Of course, there's also the effect of going out and getting exercise, fresh air and sunshine on the endorphins - so you should be feeling happier and more energised from the walk anyway!

It's not (always) per se better vision that I wish for; I just wish reading were not such very hard work!

Hope this makes sense, anyway.
Rosemary