A Modern Scourge: Understanding and Managing Visual Fatigue and Eye-Strain with Chinese Medicine

Visual fatigue and eye strain, once rare complaints, have become nearly universal with the proliferation of screens used in digital work and leisure. This paper explores the biomedical and Chinese medical frameworks for understanding visual fatigue, including epidemiology, pathophysiology and treatment. Biomedical approaches emphasise ergonomic and behavioural interventions, while Chinese medicine differentiates between constitutional patterns such as Spleen qi deficiency, qi and blood deficiency, Liver depression with blood deficiency, and Liver-Kidney deficiency. Acupuncture and herbal strategies are discussed in the context of the continuum of disease progression from transient eye strain to chronic degenerative eye disease.