Any job that implies staring at a certain point or area will inevitably affect our eyes, especially when working with computers. All students and workers spend a lot of time staring at books, notes, forms, graphics, and any kind of printed material. The advantage of this is that we change the position of the objects in order to feel comfortable and have better lighting. On the other hand, computer users do not have this choice, since the screen is usually in a fix position. Consequently, working with computers damages our sight.
The Tokomosho Syndrome is not a disease, but a group of symptoms. Tokomosho´s is a professional syndrome since it affects people who spend several hours working with computers. It has been named after the Japanese doctor Hideo Tokomosho died , who was the first to study the subject scientifically. The main symptomes, which appear in the eyes, are: burning, reddening, eye muscle contraction, and dryness. They generally go together with headaches; in worse cases, blurred vision and difficulty in focusing objects may appear.
The syndrome is caused by the efforts the eye makes in front of the screen. it has been estimated that while you are in front of the screen for 8 hours, your eye muscles move about 30.000 times in order to focus correctly. People who are not in touch with computers make the same movements in a week. This effort causes the eye muscles, like any other muscle, to saturate from lactic acid and to become tired. Fortunatelly, if some precautions such as ergonomic modifications of the workplace or changes in the computer´s routines are taken, the symptomes tend to disappear fast.