Written By Despina
Contributing Optometrist

It’s blurred. My distance vision, when I emerge from my house during the day, and even more so at night, is blurred. 

This I have been noticing over the past couple of weeks with my latest normalized prescription, although I have had it for 6 weeks now. But something has changed in my vision I  feel, and not for the better. My ciliary muscles are in spasm, and it takes a good hour of distance focusing to relieve them and get the distance clear again.

A long drive usually does it, though not a good idea in the dark. Last night I drove to the airport after being indoors for a few hours. I should have had the sense to wear a stronger prescription. A dark road to another city, no street-lights, like driving into the abyss. It was not fun. Luckily I lived to tell the tale.

So what has changed? I haven’t increased my hours of close-work, and I’m feeling well, apart from this nasty heat, which means I am spending more hours inside, where it’s cooler… which must be it. Too long indoors, focusing on that middle distance that Jake spoke about. You might feel that looking across a large room is distance viewing, but really it’s middle distance, and it’s not far enough to fully relax those ciliary muscles. Unlike other muscles of the body that are only too happy to relax after intense strain (think of those abs!), ciliary muscles, when strained by prolonged near vision, may refuse to relax.

Kuwait and Iraq had 54 degrees Celcius (129.2 F) last week (highest temperatures ever recorded in the Eastern Hemisphere), so I will stop whining about our meagre 37 and get out there a bit more.