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Ask HN: How do you combat eye strain?

8 points by egonschiele ↗ HN
I just realized I have Computer Vision Syndrome[1]. I have most of the symptoms:

- Blurred vision - Double vision - Dry, red eyes - Eye irritation - Headaches - Neck or back pain

I already use eye drops and take frequent breaks. Any other ideas?

[1] http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/computer-vision-syndrome.

12 comments

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kw71
I am interested in more about your situation. Do you wear corrective lenses? Have you tried reducing the backlighting on your display?
egonschiele
Yes, glasses. And I have my brightness way down, and good lighting at work (not too bright, not too dim).
kw71
I wear glasses too because of nearsightedness. It took me several tries at different eye doctors to find lenses that did not make me sick, but my negative experiences were not only with video displays. I had problems driving and reading, too. Of course I could read the letter charts in the doctors' offices and in the driving license office. (edit: i was experimenting with contact lenses at this time too)

Once I got the right lenses in front of my eyes, all was fine until I moved away from a CRT display, which I had no problems with at 100% brightness. My IPS display with CCFL backlight brought the pain back, until I set the brightness to 15%. But I still experience eye fatigue after several hours.

I have my display elevated so it's really at eye level, and it's about 1 meter away from my eyes so that looking at other clutter on my desk isn't a drastic change in focal distance.

I have two soft halogen lamps over my desk for lighting. It would be better if they were behind me. The lighting fixture has a switch to change the electrical configuration from series to parallel. In parallel the lamps are brighter and this produces a bit of glare so I only use them this way when I am working on something mechanical on my desk.

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avinassh
Give a try to f.lux.
mercnet
This helped my eye strain at night significantly. Disabling it at night and seeing how intense the blue color was on my eyes sold me.
coned88
Stop using IPS or TN monitors.

Buy monitors with VA panels and lower brightness. Your eye strain will go away.

FiatLuxDave
I find a high level of correlation between eye strain with computer work and dehydration. When I drink lots of water, I experience less eye strain. I don't know if that will work for you, its just an idea.

I also know that it doesn't just have to do with taking a break, because drinking once from a large container helps more than multiple drinks from small containers.

Someone1234
I turn monitor's brightness down to around 30%. It helps a lot with eye strain, at 100% my eyes get tired after only a few minutes, at 50% after a few hours, and at 30% I can go all day.

Obviously these % depend on the monitor or screen. Some screens are brighter than others. However most Dell and LG monitors are set way way too bright by default (something I call "showroom mode," essentially set to look nice, not work well).

30% is still plenty bright. Whites are still white, not washed out and gray (which happens around 10%).

biggoof
I use Gunnar glasses for gaming, and sometimes coding. The yellow tint from the glasses might help?