Squinting

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Is that a symptom too?

I just read it somewhere that it is. My eye turns upwards sometimes, apparently due to muscle damage (according to my optician) but could it be related to the AS?

I squint alot but I am very nearsighted.

Stop squinting — combat computer eye strain

Sharon Ward spends about four hours a day looking at her computer screen. Recently the 55-year-old production manager of a Halifax publishing company began experiencing eye strain because her everyday "varifocal" glasses — for far-, mid- and close-range focusing — were aggravating her vision when she did computer work.

Ward says the narrow ranges for mid- and near reading were causing neck strain because her head was tilted at an unnatural angle. "So I would start reverting to my normal angle," she says. "Then I couldn't see properly at mid- and near ranges. The words would swim in front of me, and my computer screen and the people across the desk from me would be ever so slightly out of focus."

Ward's optometrist prescribed a new pair of glasses to be worn while doing computer work and working at her desk. "The focus is divided into just two ranges, mid and near," she says. "So when I look at my desk or read, I can see well and my eyes don't get strained."

As a result of increased computer use, computer vision syndrome (CVS) — eye and vision problems linked to extended computer use that can affect adults and children — is an increasingly common affliction. Symptoms include dry, irritated, inflamed or sore eyes; headaches; and blurred vision.

The good news? "CVS makes you feel lousy but it won't cause permanent damage to the eye," says Dr. Paula Gaudet, a Halifax optometrist and past president of the Nova Scotia Association of Optometrists, who estimates that as many as 25 per cent of her patients have CVS.



Remember to rest your eyes

To prevent CVS, take frequent "eye breaks" from your computer. The Canadian Association of Optometrists website suggests that you step away from the screen for 15 minutes during each two-hour period or for 10 minutes per hour of intensive work.

The ideal distance from your eyes to the screen will vary with your size, posture and workstation design; your optometrist can advise you on the proper distance. The recommended viewing angle of the screen centre is 10 to 20 degrees — or three to four centimetres — below eye level. If possible, prop copy documents upright beside the screen to avoid awkward head or eye movements.

When we stare at the monitor we blink less frequently, which dries the eyes; using an over-the-counter eye lubricant can help moisten them. Squinting at blurred, fuzzy or tiny characters for hours can contribute to CVS. "If you have to lean forward or backward to read what's on the screen, the text is too small," says Dr. Gaudet. "Increase the point size until you can read it easily while sitting back comfortably in your chair." To increase a font's point size in a word-processing program such as Word, go to Format > Font > Size. To increase point size while reading on the web, in Internet Explorer go to View > Text Size and select from Largest to Smallest.

i squint because the world's too bright

well, actually just the sun. i love bright colors.

I think it's because of our sensory issues, or atleast mine. I tend to squint my eyes during the day-time, even when it's cloudy, and when I'm in a store with bright lights.

I squint, but my optometrist says I have pale retnas (not much pigment).

Likewise my skin is pale and I sunburn easily. That's another drawback of viking ancestors.

I squint mostly when I'm outside and the sun is shining brightly. My eyes are permanently partially dilated, so extra light gets in. Not sure how my eyes got like that, they seem to have been always like that. One time the opthalmologist thought I was using drugs because of the dilation!

I work the night shift and don't see the sun except for on my drive home. I squint all the time. Also, I'm told that the fact that I have very blue eyes makes me very light sennitve.

I have also noticed in the last few months that my right eye has become twitchy, but I dobt it's related.

I sometimes close one eye to focus on something. I thought perhaps one of my eyes was getting worse but I've just got new glasses and I still do it. Weird....

I'm a bright-light squinter as well. If its really bright I always close my left eye. I have slightly bad eye sight that also causes me to squint.

I squint when it is bright, and close whatever eye is most affected by the light if it is too bright. I thought that was normal! I used to also squint attimes to see things better.

Steve

I squint all the time and from what I understand it's very common for Aspies. I'm so light sensitive, that I wear sunglasses during the daytime when it's raining as the glare bothers me so much. I keep the lights in my office and my computer screen very dim.

-Scott

Well, aspies tend to be more sensitive to certain stimuli, so I am wondering if the squinting has anything to do with light sensitivity?

I squint mainly because I need new glasses lol

I used to squint as a means of stimming. I would squint all the time when I was younger and my mom would alway ask "what's wrong?" because it looked like I was in distress to her, but I was just stimming; the same way I pace.

One of my eyes is always farther dialated than the other.. tends to freak out optometrists but its never caused any trouble.

Well except I squint lopsided.. my right eye is almost always closed in bright light while my left one squints normally for the most part (if you consider squinting in the presense of a 75 watt lightbulb normal).

I squint a lot due to light sensitivity (I worry about driving because it's so bad), but that's just a drawback of my blue eyes, not anything AS-related.