Can using computers permanently damage your eyes?

I'd love for someone to clear this up for me: I know that computers can definitely cause eyestrain/fatigue if used too much or improperly, but can this result in actual permanent damage? Some people seem to think so, others think this is a myth.

Clearly you can get red/dry eyes or headaches from excessive usage, poor work habits, bad lighting, etc, but can this actually also amount to permanent poor eyesight (short sightedness) or the worsening of current conditions?

The reason I ask: an optician recently told me I have a very mild astigmatism (which was news to me), and also that my eyes have gotten slightly weaker. The latter is no surprise since I've been myopic for a long time (since my early teens - I'm 23) and my prescription has tended to get very gradually stronger over the years anyway. But I've just spent a year in a new job that requires work at a computer, and so I'm worried that this recent change/astigmatism hasn't developed naturally - that it's caused by computer use?

Can using computers permanently damage your eyes?

Hi JaneyDee...I've been working with computers for 100% of my job, and it definitely causes eye strain, but within an hour or so, it clears up.

As we age, our eyes do tend to worsen (I've been myopic all my life also) and our prescriptions do tend to get a little worse, especially until we stop growing in our late teens/early 20s. The astigmatism that you've just been told about is a corneal surface irregularity, and from what I understand, probably has been there...just so small that it didn't bother you, and the increase in your prescription strength also sounds normal to me (my eyes stopped changing so rapidly when I was about 25...then fluctuated with my pregnancies, now back to the strength I was prior to having my kids...until my PRK).