I've been doing some research, and determined that all the screens that cause me migraines use polarizing filters in some form.

Migraine/headache list:
IPS LCD - uses polarizing filters
TN LCD - uses polarizing filters
AMOLED phones - uses polarizing filters (to reduce reflection/increase perceived brightness)

No headaches list:
Plasma
CRT

Might interest some, due to this I might try out a DLP projector - as they also do not use polarizing filters to produce an image.

4 days later

interesting - seems to line up with the reading glasses with prisms thing? i.e. refracting the light so it bounces on a different area of your retina.

maybe a second (de?)polarizing film screen protector...

18 days later

This is really interesting! I've never liked using my (polarized) sunglasses. They strained my eyes, but I never bothered to actually wear them in different situations as to better understand what actually bothered me about them. Maybe it's them being polarized?

10 days later

APC75

No luck I'm afraid, the flickering on the DLP projector I was using was too great - they all flicker by design, unless you get one of the uber pricey 3 chip dlp projectors

  • JTL likes this.
    5 years later

    I've been catching up on forum posts concerning polarization, and I feel that the case isn't settled yet... Has anyone been able to come to strong conclusions with regards to polarized light? Have people tried reading on paper (or on a good device) while wearing polarized glasses to see if it worsens symptoms? I would like to try, but I don't have polarized glasses 😛

    This is not my main suspect for the problems I'm experiencing (or we are experiencing). But still, I would like to definitively rule it out if I can.

    8 days later

    Interesting, I bought two pairs of polarised sunglasses and noticed the same. Strain.

    9 days later

    I bought some cheap clip-on polarizing glasses (I normally wear prescription glasses already). I tested them for a day to see if the polarized light would be a problem... It wasn't! No eyestrain or headache whatsoever.

    So that's one item of my personal list of possible offenders.

    dev