Abnormal transient myopia in symptomatic individuals after sustained nearwork.

After a sustained period of nearwork, some patients report slightly blurred distance vision for several seconds or even minutes. This presumed large and prolonged "abnormal transient myopia" has never been objectively documented. A Canon R-1 infrared autorefractor was used to assess distance refractive state every 2 s before and immediately after a binocular near task in three such individuals. Results showed a large post-task myopic shift, slowed baseline decay, and increased response variability as compared with that found in asymptomatic visually normal individuals. These findings suggested that this transient distance blur was related to the increased transient myopia resulting from one or more possible abnormalities related to the accommodative system.