Vision problem - coloured fringing

Factual Questions
1

First of all, I know about the standard medical advice disclaimer, and yes I will go and see an optician about this. I’m just curious.

My job requires a lot of reading, both on screen and on paper (I do a lot of proofreading). Recently I’ve noticed a strange effect when reading black text on white paper - the letters seem to have a coloured fringe around them. It’s difficult to identify the colours, as it’s a kind of shifting effect that disappears when I try to look at it closely, but basically red and green/yellow. The closest parallel that I can think of is the chromatic aberration you get with camera lenses, and I assume it might be a similar thing that’s happening with my eyes.

So, a couple of questions: is there any common condition that might be causing this, or is it simply a sign of eye strain? And is it related to chromatic aberration?

2

You are seeing the negative reflection of the black letters on white paper. See here for an explination. Scroll to the American Flag illusion. It is explained under the illusion.

BTW, what you discribe happens to me all the time, and I’m sure many other people when looking at certain color combinations.

i.e it’s not a vision problem, but a normal occurance.

3

I wonder, then, why I have only started seeing this effect within the last two or three weeks?

4

I admit that’s curious in it’s own right? Are you straining more? More stress/less stress? It happens to me all the time, but I guess I didn’t think it was happening until I noticed it, now I see it all the time.