Nearwork-induced transient myopia: a critical review

The literature on nearwork-induced transient myopia (NITM) is reviewed, with NITM being defined as the short-term myopic far point shift immediately following a sustained near visual task. A majority of these investigations demonstrated the presence of NITM for a variety of test parameters, e.g., visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and far point. Overall, these studies reported relatively small myopic shifts, with a mean of approximately 0.40 D and a range from 0.12 to 1.30 D. The subsequent decay is characterized by an exponential function with a relatively short time course. While the precise etiology and implications of NITM remain unclear, speculations regarding its origin and relevance to clinical myopia are discussed. Studies that did not demonstrate NITM are also reviewed.