Will eye strain damage my eyes?
I have amblyopia since childhood (also glaucoma), have been a medical transcriptionist for 35 years. Now work has changed to mostly editing voice recognition drafts. I think I'm holding back from doing it quicker, because I don't trust my eyes to not miss something, plus I'm worried that zipping through the text quickly will hurt my eyes. I am noticing eye strain. I'm wondering if I'm damaging my eyes doing this.
Expert Answer
Using your eyes will not damage them; "eye strain" will not damage them. To relieve the strain, however, be sure you are blinking enough, look away from the material every 20 min or so for a couple minutes and, depending on your age, explore the option of reading glasses. The power of the reading glasses will depend on whether you are editing hardcopy documents on a desk or editing electronic documents on a computer scree. The computer screen is likely to be be a little farther away and would therefore require less power in reading glasses than for a desk.