Hi Everybody: My understanding is that this is an old wive's tale. You might have something wrong with your vision (like a muscle imbalance in your eyes) that becomes more pronounced and therefore more noticeable when you strain your eyes. But that doesn't mean the strain caused the imbalance. And if you're going blind from some other cause, your vision problem will be more noticeable the more you use your eyes. But eyestrain itself doesn't have serious or longterm consequences - and that's the Mayo Clinic talking, not just me. (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/eyestrain/DS01084/DSECTION=complications)
I've also met quite a few elderly lacemakers who've done close work for hours every day for years and not had any eye problems. Of course, people still believe this story today, and historically lots of people believed it. So the people in a historical novel might believe it implicitly. Adele North Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) On 2012-10-26, at 3:40 PM, <[email protected]> <[email protected]> wrote: > Does anyone know if it is true that doing close work (like making lace) in > low light for many hours a day can cause blindness? > > I have just finished reading The Ruins of Lace. I the book there is a > character who is loosing her sight. The author implies that this is due to > her lacemaking and that many other lacemakers who have lived in this > fictional convent have also lost their sight. I have read this several times > in the past but never from a source that I thought was reliable. > > I have done a little looking on the internet and can't find any indication > that eye strain can cause blindness. Is there anyone out there with some > information on this? Has the author taken some poetic license? > Liz R > Raleigh, NC, USA - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003/albums/most-recent
