I have a new theory I discussed with my eye specialist. There is a chance that, since most people with binocular vision dysfunction (BVD) have eye suppression (one of the eyes is not active most of the time, usually the weaker one, brain suppreses input from that eye - its open, but the input not registered; you can test that with brock string), the flicker of the displays does not allow for such eye suppresion - it wakes up the weaker eye all the time, forces you to actually use binocular vision (which is impaired compared to majority of people), and thats why your issues manifest.

As compared to the past, the old tech allowed for eye suppression to be present. Reason for my theory is that when treating BVD, sometimes a machine is used that flickers light at certain frequency in order to wake the weaker eye up and force it to be active.

Naturally solution is the same as has been so far - vision therapy and treatment of BVD. However this would explain why the tech of the past does not cause issues to manifest - it allows for BVD to continue by not forcing the suppresed eye to work.

    martin

    That's a really interesting theory. You mentioned that you discussed this with your eye specialist, what was their reaction to this?

    I'm pretty sure that wearing a patch improves my symptoms, I'm going to ask my doctor about this as well. My only question would be that if the issue is the weaker eye, wouldn't wearing a patch on the weaker eye instantly relieve the symptoms because it would force the dominant eye to do all of the work? For example, when I wear the patch on my weak eye, my symptoms are improved, but not 100% gone.

    Wouldn't it be amazing if this actually was the cause behind our symptoms and we could finally address it? I can dream, lol.

    This is the explanation that makes the most sense to me so far. So the eye that hurts first while a source of light is flickering, be it a display or ambient light, is probably the eye that normally doesn't get used that much? And perhaps it is that eye that should be used to view when doing the eye patching we are talking about currently.

    Only thing that contradicts this theory a little, at least at first glance, is that the eye doctors have not found a dominant eye for me. It seems my eyes are used equally. When I do the Miles test (folding hands in triangular form), I don't find a dominant eye myself. And when I do the Porta test, I always see both fingers and thus can't cover the distant object at all.

    But still, this theory makes a lot of sense and can at least explain certain kinds of eye strain.

    Edit: I wonder, could a certain light spectrum wake up the suppressed eye, too? Without any flicker, just having a certain spectrum like White LED.

    • bkdo replied to this.

      KM

      I've had the most luck with this method, have tried this before? My left eye is definitely the dominant one, it's a very stark difference for me when I do this test:

        bkdo

        When doing this test, the object stays framed when closing my left eye. When closing my right eye, the object moves to the left significantly.

        This would seem to indicate that my right eye is dominant.

        My left eye is the first to hurt almost always.

        Edit: It actually moves when closing my left eye as well, just not as dramatically as when closing my right eye.

        I dont think that dominant eye has to do much with this. Usually the weaker eye is suppressed and that could be the dominant one. In my case my right eye is dominant, but was the one mostly suppressed. The suppression can also alternate between both eyes.

          martin

          That makes sense, how did you tell which of your eyes was weaker or stronger? It's a little difficult for me to tell which eye is being suppressed. Maybe it'll be more obvious after patching for a while?

            bkdo just a general exam and experience. My right eye is shortsighted. But you can have BVD even with 20/20 vision, and even then eye suppression will take place. Its very individual.

            Hi Martin! That is an interesting theory to explain some part of the problem but not all of it. I suspect there's something more.
            I have severe pain from new smartphones and I have an excellent binocular vision, when I look at the broke string I see image from both eyes and a correct focus point.
            Smartphones break my vergence immediately (within seconds), by some light effect, but not flicker. After usage I am not able to focus far: eyes cant diverge enough. Additionally I percieve the screen as bright when it is visibly dull, and my retina photoreceptors are tired or damaged after screen usage.
            There are more people like me among those who do not tolerate only modern smartphones or some modern smartphones. The intensity of symptoms vary.
            I am trying to research that particular effect and created a light/vergence thread here.

              Mrak0020 This is also an interesting theory. I suspect that the new lighting breaks vergence even in healthy people, it just takes longer time for them. My proof of this is that more people that I personally know now start to complain about feeling like starting to see double and unable to hold single point with both eyes when they spend too much time working on new displays.

              What you describe still sounds to me like BVD (convergence excess), maybe the brock string is not proper tool to diagnose your specific case. Maybe you are able to compensate the issue when using brock string.

              The bottom line then would be - new display rendering and LEDs break eye vergence. When you have BVD, it happens a lot faster, as your eye vergence is already impaired.

                martin What you describe still sounds to me like BVD (convergence excess

                I believe that is not the case based on the evidence:

                1. I have never had any problems with anything and I can focus anywhere I look in less than a second.
                2. Looking at the screen breaks my vergence immediately and severely. I feel excuriating muscle pain the very moment I look at screen and I can't focus anywhere far immediately after. I feel like when I look far my eyes meet some invisible wall. That wall is an impossibility to diverge my eyes. So it is the phone that creates a convergence excess and not a convergence excess that causes my inability to use the phone.
                3. Image from any single eye of mine (with my second eye closed), especially a dominant one, feels like everything changed positions in space. I literally see this effect, because it is so unusual for me.
                4. This effect comes together with subjective feeling of super extra bright screen. A lot of people on the tech forums either feel only this symptom or this symptom together with convergence problem. We call it "feels like you look at a welding". This feeling is not only not a visual illusion but an indicator of some fotoreceptors overuse, cause they sometimes cause impossible light sensitivity.

                I checked my screen for rendering and flicker and can say that it is not a cause.

                So probably in some cases it is a binocular vision problems that cause the intolerance to usual, safe light... But in other cases this is literally a light that is so intense or dangerous for retina, that it causes immediate BVD.
                In such cases the best thing to do is not to train the binocular vision but avoid the dangerous light.

                  Mrak0020 I feel excuriating muscle pain the very moment I look at screen and I can't focus anywhere far immediately after.

                  Same, better or worse if you look with one eye?

                    mike
                    Same. I feel how muscles on both eyes work together though with one eye patched, so...

                    • mike replied to this.

                      Mrak0020

                      Short or long test?

                      I did a short test many years ago and my conclusion was the same as yours. But with the long test it was much better.

                        mike
                        Long 'cause I'm trying to reduce the eye damage from light.
                        And damage from light is impressive: I see neon colors instead of normal colors, bright objects that are printed on retina are brighter and stay longer etc

                        a month later

                        martin sometimes a machine is used that flickers light at certain frequency in order to wake the weaker eye up and force it to be active.

                        I use such a machine, it's called the TransLid-Binocular Interactor (TBI). It's just a that flickers between each eye a few times a second (I have no idea how it costs $300 as it's a pretty simple device).

                          4 months later

                          ryans Curious on your results with using this device. The BVD theory seems to be the most accurate at this time since it is the only one that explains why patching works.

                            ensete lpowers0918 So the purpose of the TBI is an anti-suppression device. People with BVDs often suppress one eye; that is, the brain does not actively fuse images between both eyes. The TBI is supposed to force both eyes to be used by creating a flicker.

                            The device does seem to help with suppression but it hasn't helped my symptoms. If you're electronic inclined, I am pretty sure you could build one for like 30 bucks. It is literally just two LED lights that flicker between the left and right eye.

                            8 months later

                            Highly interesting theory.

                            It seems to be that I have eye strain from temporal dithering. I'm pretty sure that I have eye strain not from PWM because I have Radex Lupin devices and I found several devices that have PWM but do not make eye strain to me, and vice-versa I have devices without PWM but with eye strain.

                            I tried to use Lenovo Thinkpad T14s, which causes me eye strain, with the patch on one eye, and magic - I can use it with almost no strain.

                            I have scoliosis so it seems to be that my head has a small tilt which seems to be causing BVD.

                              dev