Sore right eye....really sore

[IanJ]

Hi,

I have dry eyes, blepharitis (under control) & evaporative.

When I sit at home at the computer my right eye gets sore, usually after 5 minutes or so.......and I don't mean stinging sore, I mean like a dull toothache type soreness. If I let it go, the whole side of my face seems to get sore....quite bad actually.

If I look away the soreness begins to subside after a few minutes, or indeed if I cover my eye but continue to look at the computer the soreness will die away. My left eye never ever gets sore like this.

From the moment I awake in the morning till I go to bed at night my right eye is in a constant state of soreness.....at it's best it's very hardly noticeable but it is there.

At work I use a computer (almost all day) but it never gets as sore as it does at home.

I've tried putting drops in immediately before using the PC but it doesn't seem to help.

If I sit in front of the Tv (15ft away) my eye doesn't get sore. It seems to be when I'm close to my lcd monitor.

I wear glasses (short sighted), and with my glasses on I can read at about 8" closest.

I have a retinal vein occlusion in my right eye.....very very close to my centre of vision. It's a blurred patch in my vision. I have another in my left eye, much smaller but off to the side by quite a bit.

I can't help but think the soreness is not dry eyes but something else?

I've been to the eye clinic and have mentioned it....but after sitting for soooo long in the queue my eyes get quite rested and it's never really sore by the time I get seen. I sometimes wish I could strain my right eye to the point of soreness before I go in.....but don't know how to go about that.

Outside in bright dayligh my eye doesn't get sore, it's only at my home PC.
NB. I have the brightness turned quite far down.

PS. I should have said, the soreness only ever started when I first started getting dry eyes....about 18 months ago. I also got new glasses a couple of montsh before that.

Any ideas?

Ian.

[YGB]

Ian - I don't get the soreness you refer to but one thought I have is that it's possible the soreness you get at night on the LCD may be due to the fact that it is the end of the day/night and you are a heavy PC user most of the day. Do you get this same soreness on weekends at home when you use it in the morning? A humidifier on the floor next to your PC may help. Also, giving your eyes a rest prior to using the PC may help too. If you can get your hands on an older, clunky big monitor and try that at home to see if it helps your eyes that may help. Just some random thoughts. Welcome and good luck or should I say ... cheers!

[calli66]

One of my eyes sometimes gets sore while using my computer.

I noticed you said you are quite nearsighted, as I am. Do you wear reduced strength glasses to use the computer? The soreness may be due to accommodation problems, convergence issues, astigmatism. These, in addition to dry eye, cause my right eye (especially) to act up when using the computer. For me--at the computer distance--one eye seems to "take over" most of the work of focusing, leaving the other one struggling, and this produces the "eye ache." I don't notice this problem at greater distances (like, the 15 ft to the TV or outside at maximum distances).

This does not help explain why you only have sore eye only when using your home PC. But perhaps there are differences in the distance to the PC (as opposed the one at work), or the resolution, lighting, etc. is different, or even perhaps at work, you are interrupted more often, and this relieves the stress that triggers the soreness.

An easy way to test out the accommodation possibility is to buy some cheap plus (readers) at the drugstore to wear over your glasses (like +1.00's or +1.50's) and see if it helps. Also, if you have an older, weaker pair of glasses--try wearing those at the PC instead of your full strength ones.

Also, I just noticed the other day that our local hunting, fishing superstore sells a neat little CLIP-ON PLUS POWER READER lens--for fisherman--located in their sunglasses display. It was only $10. Probably find it on the web somewhere.

Convergence, astigmatism, and eyeglass Rx problems have to be troubleshot separately, by a good eye doctor. Seeing well on a eyechart is not the whole story; there are functionality issues--how the eyes work together at particular distances--that takes a bit more time to discover.
Best,
C66

[IanJ]

Hi,

Great food for thought!

When I got me new glasses I thought they were fine, although I did make a comment at the time that I felt the right eye was "pulling".....and on immediately putting on my old glasses the pulling went away.

I got re-tested at a different optician and they said my new glasses were fine, there was no mistake. I thoght maybe I had some prism problem but they said I didn't.

The difference between my old and new prescription is almost nothing, in fact they said the right eye was the same (the sore one), it was the left eye that had changed a little.

My right eye is definitely drier that the left.

I will definitely try my old glasses for the PC at home and see how I get on.

PS. At work my PC monitor is about 8" further away than it is at home.

Again, great stuff......I'll give it a go.

Ian.