Eyestrain (commonly called asthenopia) / by Ernest Clarke.

  • Ernest Clarke
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Eyestrain (commonly called asthenopia) / by Ernest Clarke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    it may be a sharp shooting lancinating pain, that seems to start from some tender spot in the scalp or forehead. Some describe the pain as an opening and shutting of the skull, or as if a nail were being driven into the vertex. The commonest form of asthenopic headache is a dull pain over one or both brows. It is important to remember that the headache of eye- strain is very often periodic. It does not follow that when the headache occurs it necessarily implies the presence of greater eye fatigue ; the amount of strain may be the same as when no headache occurred, but the individual is in a different condition. Some other exhausting element may be present, such as worry, or the catamenial flow. It is a common thing to find ladies suffering from headache during or at the end of the menstrual period, and cause and effect are naturally linked together in the patient's mind, but the real cause may be eyestrain. The following is a case from my private note-book that will illustrate this :— Mrs. V. O., age 31. Has four children. She has complained for years of periodical headaches ; they appear about once a month and last sometimes a whole week, and are so severe during part of the time that she is obliged to keep her bed. She is shghtly anaemic, but otherwise perfectly healthy. She has been thoroughly examined by a competent gynsecologist, who found no uterine or ovarian trouble. The catamenia are fairly regular, and the headache generally follows a period. Innumerable remedies have been tried, without avail. Examination of the eyes without atropine revealed no defect, but under atropine the left eye was shown to be myopic in one meridian (oblique) to the extent of 1.5 D. The right eye was emmetropic. The astigmatism was fully corrected, and glasses were given to wear constantly, with the satisfactory result that her periodical headaches disappeared. Some time afterwards, thinking that she could discard her glasses she did so, with the result that the old headaches returned with all their severity, disappearing again on resuming the constant use of the glasses.
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