From The Spring 2002 Issue of Nutrition Science News

Dry Eyes Are Fatigue Symptom

Eyelid glands secrete oils, water and mucin as we blink. Any constant viewing that slows the blink rate, such as staring at a computer monitor, may cause visual fatigue.

Researchers at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo, Japan, studied 10 subjects who were asked to add numerals and read copy on computers for six hours. Researchers assessed participants' visual fatigue with waveforms from electromyograms (EMG) and electrooculograms (EOG). The symptoms of general fatigue and eye fatigue increased linearly during participants' work on the computers.

A recent study (Collegium Antropologicum, 2001) conducted at the Eye Clinic Rebro, School of Medicine, at the University of Zagreb, Croatia, showed positive results using lodoxamide as a topical medication for dry eyes.

—Perceptive Motor Skills 2001 Feb;92(1):234-50.