Visual fatigue , a common eye problem, has been a major concern for many health professionals around the world for several years. All agree that it becomes a public health problem. Many ophthalmologists, opticians, optometrists, ergonomists, osteopaths, neurologists, orthoptists... work together to consolidate their research and work.

All these health professionals agree that visual fatigue is a problem that we all encounter daily in the practice of our professions. Indeed, this fatigue or visual stress is a syndrome that can affect us all. Whether after a long work on a screen, a tablet, a badly printed document or a lack of light . This is a reality that disturbs not only ametropes (people with a visual defect identified or not) but also emmetropes (people without specific visual problems who do not wear glasses).

This feeling of fatigue is also found after a long drive, a long work in near vision (embroidery, philately, illumination...) or far vision (observation of animals, work outdoors with wind and dust... ).

Like every state of fatigue, it is due to the excessive use of an organ here of the eye.

Visual fatigue can be compared to muscle fatigue after an effort, a hike or a marathon for example, and manifests itself differently depending on each person.

We note that the main cause of this fatigue is computer work ; it is work requiring near and intermediate vision , in a static position and the eye is also subjected to the harmful blue light emitted by it.

Depending on the individual, the effects of this visual fatigue differ; it could be :

  • impairment of ocular functions:

- decreased visual acuity

- photophobia, glare

- diplopia: double vision

- decrease in contrasts

  • eyestrain:

- decrease in blinking of the eyelids linked to the effort of fixation

-dry eye, decrease in the amount of tears (very annoying for contact lens wearers)

-red eye

  • general fatigue:

-headaches

-torticollis

- discomfort at the level of the orbits

- lower concentration leading to less efficiency

The causes of this fatigue are various, they can be due to:

  • optical problems:

- visual defects not or badly corrected

- binocular vision problem: convergence, divergence…

- eye diseases: cataracts, AMD, keratitis, uveitis, etc.

  • types of activity such as occupations requiring great attention in near vision and intermediate vision
  • artificial light emitted by screens

The best proposed solutions are:

  • eyeglasses suitable for ametropes with anti-reflective anti-blue light lenses such as anti-blue light proximity glasses
  • visual protection for emmetropes, anti-blue light rest glasses
  • ergonomics adapted to the work to be done for everyone.