Eye pain/strain only when looking at screens?
Posted , 71 users are following.
I'm 19 and have been very active on computers and other screens for many years and never had any problems. I have glasses for 10 years with no problems. I got my prescription updated over a year ago and had no problems, as usual, until about 5 months ago. One night while on the computer I started to feel a little strain like the screen was a little too bright. That had happened in the past very rarely so I didn't think much about it. The next day it got worse and I started having eye pain after about ten minutes of looking at my monitor (keeps in mind I've looked at monitors for hours before with no problems like this). For two weeks, I couldn't stand to look at ANY screens. TV, computer, phone, etc. I had to use my phone and PC occasionally but could only tolerate it when the brightness on these devices was completely turned down. The pain was like having really dry eyes but when I looked at a screen, I could feel a pain shooting through my eyes (mostly my right eye but still in both.) After two weeks, it got a little better and I could look at screens some, but the brightness has to stay low and it still hurts some more days than others. It's been 5 months and it won't go away. I've been using drops for severe dry eyes and it seems to have helped a little but not much.
NOTE: I went to my eye doctor a few days ago. He checked my prescription, focusing range, and looked into my eyes (but he didn't dilate them). He basically said my eyes were perfectly fine and told me to take breaks every once in a while when using a computer and pushed me out the door (in a manner of speaking). I've been taking huge breaks and limited my use to 1-2 hours a day and still I have the same pain.
What should I do? I start college for a tech degree this fall and it hurts to look at screens. I'm in a deep depression now because I can't find relief and I need to know how to fix this. I know there's something wrong with me, I just don't know what. Should I get a second opinion? I've read that if your eyes are really dry or something, you could have a tear or do some kind of damage and need to put antibiotic ointment on your eyelids to help repair them. I don't know if that's true but I friend described my problem to his eye doctor out of state and that's what he said. And I've read it in a few places online.
It would mean the world to me if anybody would lend their advice. I'm so close to just giving up and hope I can be happy in another career & routine that doesn't involve as many screens but it's making me miserable.
7 likes, 80 replies
mlim unknownTous
Posted
OMG, my family members thought I was crazy for claiming that watching TV hurts my eyes. My problem is very similar to yours but I've been going crazy trying to find a solution. I've never had any eye issues growing up until recently. I will provide a time line of what lead up to my eye problems. I don't need or wear glasses. Sorry for this long post.
Spring 2014 - rubbed my eyes very aggressively due to seasonal allergy.
Summer 2014 - noticed a blister formed under the right corner of my right eye (originally thought it was a pimple)
Early 2015 - went to eye doctor to check out the blister, turns out it was a cyst, caused by an eye lash lodged on the corner after I rubbed my eye back in Spring 2014. Eye doctor drained the liquid out of the cyst. He then mentioned that I have early sign of narrow angle glaucoma and recommend a preventative laser treatment.
Summer 2015 - had the laser iridotomy procedure done to prevent narrow angle glaucoma. Procedure consist of using a laser to burn a small hole in the outer ring of your pupil.
Fall 2015 - A stuck pixel appears on my TV. I've been using a Samsung 55" UN55B6000 as my Home Theather PC for 4 years or so, sit 8-10 feet away on the couch. Never had any issues watching this TV for 3-10 hours a day.
Winter 2015 – Micro Center has the RCA 4K 55" TV for $399. It was an awesome deal for 4k 55" TV. Only after 2 days of watching it that I noticed that there was something going on with my eyes and this TV. My right eye feels like I've been staring directly at a flashlight for a short time. I decided to return the TV within the week and ruled out that RCA TV isn't what it used to be and that they used some cheap materials. My Samsung TV still works fine without any issue.
Early 2016 - Bought a 50" Samsung 4K JU7500 (curved screen). After watching this TV for a short time (15-30min), my eye started straining. I tried to see if my eyes will get used to it, it only brought more pain as I continued to watch it. I ended up giving the TV to a relative. Using my old Samsung TV, smart phones or tablet had no affect to my eyes.
Fall 2016 - A friend of mine bought a Samsung 65KS8000. I went over to his house and streamed 4K contents for an hour. My eyes didn't strain much. I decided to purchase the same model. The first hour or so, it didn't bother me, but after watching it for more than 1 hour or two, my eyes felt dry and inflamed, especially the right eye. Using eye lubricant helps a little, but my eyes wanted to rest more than continue watching TV. I then searched on google for “eye strain and 4k”, “eye strain with LED TV” and I found that the newer LED TVs uses flickering backlit LED for local dimming and a lot of people were having eye strain from that feature. I found a forum on google with the title “LED / LCD TV without a flicker (PWM)”. Only Sony (most of their line) and LG’s OLED are the only ones that are flicker free TVs.
December 2016 - I watched the OLED at BestBuy for 30min without any issue, many people say that OLED are not good for PC monitor as the image will burn in. I decided to go for the Sony X850D, which is listed as flicker free. In the beginning, it didn’t bother me much, some eye drops and I was OK. I thought I found a perfect replacement, but after 2 weeks, it started to strain my eyes. I also went back to the eye doctor recently and he said this issue I am having is the first time he heard of (probably thinks I'm crazy). He said he used to have eye fatigue with the older CRT monitor and that the new LED screens are supposed to be easier on the eye.
Then I decided to google “eye strain watching TV” and came across this post. I am so relieved that there may be an answer to my long search. I will look into vision therapy. Again, I have no problem with my old Samsung TV (made in 2009), smart phones, tablets, laptop, computer monitors. Only newer TVs are hurting my eyes, 1080p and 4K contents. Also, my lips are chapped every winter for as long as I remember.
unknownTous mlim
Posted
Wow, that's a crazy set of events you've been through! I've sent you some links that might help you out some (at least I hope they do). Let me know if you have any questions!
AMC4x4 mlim
Posted
Thank you so much for providing that google search tip. Back in 2013, I started having major eye issues - my eyes would get fatigued very easily, and by the time I was ready for bed, they felt like they were burning. My wife had milder symptoms, but they started for her as well. I sit in front of a computer for 10 hours a day, so I thought I was doomed because my eyes hurt so bad all the time. Eventually, I realized my eye issues coincided with the replacement of our main TV - from a Sony LCD to a new LG LED television. Luckily, I realized this when I was within the first 20 days or so of ownership, and Best Buy allowed me to return it. I picked up a leftover Sony big screen and the issue went away. I've been looking for a 4K television now, but was kind of freaked out about lugging a big tv home only to have to test it out and return it.
Oddly enough, I have an LG ultrawide LED monitor at home, and two Acer LED's at work, and none of them give me issues like the LG television did. As someone else said, my eyes felt like I had been staring directly into an LED flashlight for an hour. Maybe they've fixed the technology with recent models? Whatever the case, I guess I'm sticking with Sony for my 4K. Thanks again for the link tip.
yvonne72549 unknownTous
Posted
I know this may seem rude but having read the log of events the person has been through that could have been me. My family think I'm mad too saying I can only watch the TV for 30 mins before my eye hurts - sometimes I have to go to bed for the pain to go away. I too have two TV's and it only happens when I watch the newest one. I also have just bought an iphone and I'm finding I'm having the same trouble with that. I've had the laser treatment as above too. Would it be possible for you to send me the links you mention.
Thanks
aaa1992 unknownTous
Posted
can you please send me the link privately?
I really appreciate your comments, replies, and insights on this topic.
mlim AMC4x4
Posted
Just a quick update. I believe the source of my eye issue is due to the higher nit level on these new devices. All these manufacturers all trying to make screens brighter.
I've used Samsung Galaxy S5, S7 and S8 with no issues, then when I upgraded to Galaxy Note 9, even though they all uses OLED, it was causing eyes to strain. I tried dimming the brightness, but it didn't help. The only way for me to use the phone with minimal eye strain was to put a dark tinted privacy screen on the phone. My eyes does get strain if I read a page with bright background for too long.
Recently, I bought a LG OLED TV (OLED55B9PUA) from Costco which comes with 90 days return period. With the settings out of the box, it caused some eye strain, (not as bad as the Samsung or RCA 4k TVs I've mentioned. After changing the OLED Backlight to 80% and Brightness to 42%, my eyes were OK with it, even though dark scenes are a little hard to distinguish. If I was to bump the brightness to anything higher, my eyes will start to strain.
mark60645 unknownTous
Posted
I have the same problem, been playing video games for years. Now I can't even look at a bright screen without feeling sharp pain within my eyes.
jerome2017 unknownTous
Posted
I have worked with computers since the "Green Screen Mainframe and PC days." As the technology has changed the vision problems seem to change with the technology and the sensitivities of the particular users. The old long persistence phosphors the green screens used were great but made the mouse cursor break up. So the manufacturers switched to faster phosphors to make the cursor look better which made eyestrain worse. The LCD displays were originally a big improvement but a few years ago the industry started using the LCD panels for video. The panels used to switch slowly enough that they smear the frames together. Smearing the frames causes artifacts when playing video. The vendors also went to pulsing the backlight to control brightness on may devices and this may also be a factor. I have seen some manufacturers offering displays with a non pulsed backlight but I have not tried one of them.
After the switch to the faster displays I noticed that on the newer computer display, tablets, phones, car dash boards, and even digital watches that my eyes would be sore where they were not previously. I was fine with film projectors at the cinema but the digital projectors are a problem. I found you post because I have been driving a newer car the last few days and so I though I would see if I could find some newer information.
As a solution professionally I have kept old computer monitors which I attach to the computers that I am working with. The panels with a response time of about 55 milliseconds or longer seem to be ok and times of 35 milliseconds or shorter seem to cause problems although that may just be a proxy for the technology of the device and there was something else that causes the problem. The time to switch pixels is the only thing that I have been able to find in the specs that correlates with pain when using the devices. Most of the e ink devices have worked well for me and I have seen many comments on line from people that say that they get sore eyes reading on their tablets but not their e readers.
jerome2017
Posted
I have an update to my previous post. I started using a couple of the new flicker free monitors a few weeks ago. I have an electric fan to check for flicker. When I looked at the monitors through the fan there did appear to be no flicker at all but I still had problems with sore eyes. After having a talk with a monitor repair technician who noted that when they work on the new monitors without the filters installed they get very sore eyes I looked into filtering for the light from the monitor. After researching filters on the web I tried some different filters. I did not see any improvement with the filters that just eliminate blue light but I have dramatic improvement with glasses with the Rose colored FL-41 35% density filters. I also had some improvement with some yellow looking glasses that a different source claimed are FL-41 but they do not help enough for me to use a monitor all day like the Rose colored FL-41 glasses do. I tried the 35 millisecond monitor that I mentioned in the earlier post with the FL-41 glasses and I still have the problem with that monitor. I tried looking at the monitor through the fan and noted that the monitor has a high frequency flicker. I can't see evidence of flicker the way I used to do it by shaking something then looking through the path of the moving object but I can see evidence of flicker with the fan.
I have tried looking through a few automobile dashboard displays with the fan and some of the newer vehicles have a definite flicker. One vehicle seems to use the flickering backlight for the computer display and for the area behind the analog dials next to it.
gabe31597 jerome2017
Posted
Jerome,
I've been using computers since '86. First on crt tv, than commodore crt monitor than simple vga crts, after which lcd panel displays were a nice surprise - I thought my sight's getting worse over years but not, crts were blurred and on new sharp imaged lcd panels my work was a bless. It was no issue for me until I changed my home monitor to led display and at my workplace they issued to change all lcd to led displays. Also, my first led display smart phone was bought.
Since then my eyes started to act strange - though 3-4 years of. ed monitor watching, 9-10 hours daily, also chatting on phone at home, morning, night.
The back of my eyes started to hurt around 3 years ago, I couldn't look at the bright display, I tried to change settings, using f.lux software, anything to do something. At a point I tried sunglasses - in my despair.
As I found that no such type of pain occurs watching old type displays, I looked after the technology.
Only a year later I found the issues with Led technology, the low wavelength light component that can irreversibly damage retina cells if not filtered on displays, and in milder cases it can overexcite vision nerves, causing less quality sleep at night, dizzyness, pain behind the eye.
The world light-technology is changing much more faster than we can have experience on effects to human neural systems.
But, for example to avoid sleeping drivers they experimenting in installing blue leds on dashboards as it irritates, keeps awake the one having it in sight. Something to think about.
So both flicker + specific light components (wavelenght) together can cause real issues in people with a highly sensitive neural system. It's around 10-30% of population. From them only those are affected, who work or watch into led lights for hours daily.
Until a new monitor/display technology is put onto market, és suffer the led. Any other type of displays are less irritative.
Watch for your eyes, led generated light can also cause irreversible blindness after years (retina cell death, shown in rats) - if the light component is not well filtered. Also led has a much higher photon density which also damages the eyes when staring into directly for hours, days, years.
abhi39732 unknownTous
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Please PM Useful links to me....Thanks .
rick06575 unknownTous
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ajaykumar04 unknownTous
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juanita43819 unknownTous
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I’m glad I found this forum. Glad others are trying to find out what’s going on, too.
darren09723 unknownTous
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juanita43819 darren09723
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Thank you. I am trying this on my iPhone and computer. We will see how it works. Appreciate the info! 👍