Why do my eyes feel cold?

Why do my eyes feel strained and hurt all the time?

• okay so i feel i should say that i use to smoke weed everyday and my eyes would feel tired and strained when i had my contacts in.... also they would go crosseyed... thats why i ...show more

• Answer:

  Hi, several things may be going on. The dry eyes might have some relationship to what you mentioned, but there is a more likely explanation. Eyestrain like you describe when doing school work is something that affects at least one in four students. You didn't say what kinds of vision work you do, or whether your glasses are to make the distance clearer. If you do a lot of computer stuff at school, doctors have found that many people blink less often when peering at a screen (including iPads and smartphones), so the eyes don't get the moisture from blinking and dry out. This is very irritating to the inside of your eyelids. Blinking more is a good thing to practice doing Now, this is the more important part. If your glasses were prescribed for nearsightedness, to clear up distance blur, then your eyestrain may come from the fact you have a distance clarity prescription that you are using to see up close. The vast majority of eye doctors prescribe to get your distance sight clear without considering that most of the school work you actually do is done at less than arm's length, so there is a mismatch between your distance prescription's purpose, and the work you are doing. Sometimes, if you have a very weak distance prescription, you can just not wear them when you are doing any prolonged reading. But, if your prescription is fairly high (like -.150 or avove), then you should also have a pair with a weaker prescription that you wear for close up visual work. This is contrary to the basic teaching at most eye doctor training schools, so you will have to insist on this. You might want to have the doctor do what is called a trial frame of a somewhat weaker prescription while you read or look at a screen for a few minutes. Switch between your present distance glasses and the trial pair and see if you notice it is more comfortable when you have the weaker trial frame prescription on. If it feels better, then I suggest you get a second pair of glasses that you wear for school. One thing about prescribed lenses, it is impossible to make one pair of glasses work with every single way you use your eyes. So it is not unusual for someone who is nearsighted to need several pairs with somewhat different prescriptions. You can tell whether your glasses are for nearsightedness by looking in a mirror. When you look through your glasses, do your eyes seem to be smaller than they appear without the glasses? If yes, they what I wrote above probably applies. I suggest you show this answer to your parents so they can understand what's going a little better, especially if they have to pay for your glasses. They will probably feel more comfortable about this if they read this post. The eye doctor you see will make all the difference. I work with eye doctors who take into account the fact you are using your eyes all day for reading, studying and computer/smartphone activities. Sometimes, the right prescription makes it easier to understand what you are reading, but that's a different story. You can cut and past the answer without having to include your question (or this sentence) if you want your parents to read this without including your own remarks. Hope this helps. I don't think the Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) link in one of the replies really applies to you, and if what I've said is the case for you, you should get relief fairly soon.