Hi all,
I'd love a bit of advice as this seems to be the most active thread about patching. Over the course of 2.5 years, I, like many of you, have tried almost everything: Neurolens prism glasses, e-ink and reflective LCD monitor, bluelight blockers, punctal plugs, autologous eye drops, and recently saw a vision therapist (who, yet again, told me dry eye was my root cause, not BVD). The only thing that allows me to work on the computer pain-free is patching. It only seems to work when I patch the right eye. My right eye has weaker vision, but I believe it is my dominant eye after doing tests. It's also the one that gets the most pain.

So patching works--great! The problem is, when I take my patch off to do meetings (I work 40 hours per week on the computer and tend to have about 3 hours of virtual meetings per day), the pain is stronger and quicker to sink in than when I'm not in the habit of patching. This worries me that patching is making my binocular vision even worse, yet it's the only thing that allows me to function at work. Any thoughts or advice?

    PhilG Yeah, that is what has put me off so far. My vision therapists have recommended to not disrupt binocular vision, as I have been making huge progress with the exercises. However, I am still desperate these days and at a certain point I may give patching a serious go. I did try a bit but perhaps too intensely on the single day and for not enough consecutive days. I did have that feeling of eyes collapsing/crossing while patching, which worried me. I also found out that one eye is dominant at near and the other is dominant at distance, which has made things more confusing.
    I still do not get the science behind patching in case one does use both eyes relatively properly, but it is also true that no specialist I have seen has a clear idea of what is going on and has been able to propose a clear-cut solution.

    Can you confirm you benefit from patching but patching has not healed your condition, so you are unable to use any device without discomfort without patching? How long have you been patching for?
    Also, could you elaborate on why e-ink did not work? What device have you tried? Thanks.

      PhilG I am in the same situation as you. I have found that by patching one eye I can use problematic devices but so far I have not solved the problem if I use two eyes.

      For meetings with the cliets i don't patch. If I know I have many meetings I take a medication that allows me to use the PC with two eyes for several hours (fluxarten 10mg). I try to take as little as possible because in one month I gained 3 kg.

        AGI Thanks for sharing your situation. It's interesting you've been able to find a vision therapist that could actually determine your dominant eye switches. I saw a surgeon a couple months ago who (finally) confirmed that I have a convergence issue in my right eye and that vision therapy would be my best option to fix it, but when I finally saw the vision therapist, she said my binocular vision was working just fine and that vision therapy would not help me (ugh--so back to online forums and experimenting for me).

        To answer your questions: yes, I absolutely benefit from patching, but I am unable to look at most devices with two eyes without significant pain. Now days I can handle some screens in full yellow light mode for an hour or so though. The longest I've patched is about three weeks, but I'm going to try it now more diligently (finishing up week 1 now). I am using a patch that goes over my glasses, so both eyes remain open. Anytime I'm not wearing the patch, I try to squeeze my right eye in as hard as I can to stop it from straying. This helps avoid the ocular migraines I usually get from viewing a screen with both eyes, but then my eye gets exhausted. When it's patched, I let it relax a bit, but still try to keep it "activated" as best I can. I think when I let it fully relax, that's when my binocular vision gets all wacked out when I unpatch.

        Regarding e-ink and reflective LCD screens: they do not solve my issue, but they are a lifesaver nonetheless. I started with a Boox Mira. If it weren't for that, I would have had to leave my job, the pain was unbearable. Definitely still pain while using the boox though, and as communications is my job, the black and white screen was incredibly impractical. I then bought the Sun Vision Display reflective LCD monitor. When I first got it, I was very disappointed, because it gave me too much pain to use, and I found it less comfortable than e-ink. But then I got a pair of Neurolens, which, again, did not solve the root issue, but also helped a lot. With Neurolens, I was able to tolerate (I use the term tolerate loosely) the sun vision display and now use that as my primary monitor. My work computer is an ASUS Tuff Gaming, and its backlit screen utterly destroys me. I realized recently, when I started using my personal macbook pro for work, that the ASUS, even being displayed on the Sun Vision and with patching was still hurting my eye. So it must also be something in the graphics card that wrecks me. Hoping now that patching might work better now that I avoid the ASUS as much as possible.

        If I'm having a good day, I can handle my macbook pro backlit on full night mode for an hour, maybe two, without much residual pain. But if my right eye is too fatigued for me to keep it "squeezed" with the anterior muscles, then it still irritates me pretty quickly.

        Long-winded reply: but in a nutshell, I would definitely recommend a reflective LCD screen or e-ink monitor and I would definitely recommend Neurolens. Both have reduced pain in a significant way for me. But do not get your hopes up that they will solve the issue.

        • AGI likes this.

        Lauda89 I've not heard of fluxarten, is that a steroid? I was given steroidal drops a few years ago and for a week I was able to work with no pain--it was awesome. Unfortunately it can't be used with regularity. I also tried it a second time a few months later and it didn't really work at all.

          a month later

          hello. thanks for your sharing. i have started patching my dominant eye as of today ( for about 3 hours of computer use) and have one question. did you get strain on your patched eye?

          like it seems that the eye that i am using is pain free but the one that is patched hurts as usual even with 0 screen contact. @mike

          • mike replied to this.

            PhilG This worries me that patching is making my binocular vision even worse, yet it's the only thing that allows me to function at work. Any thoughts or adviice?

            I ran this question by my neurologist, my ophthalmologist, and my nuero ophthalmologist. All three of them said that patching is completely safe an there is no evidence it causes any negative side effects. The only thing the cautioned against was driving while wearing an eye patch since it limits your peripheral vision out of the patched eye nd that can be dangerous.

            My vision therapists have recommended

            In my experience "vision therapists" are simply eye doctors who want to charge you more money for bunk "vision therapy" that doesn't actually work and is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo pseudoscience. It's telling that medical insurance doesn't cover it.

            5 days later

            vladgh It’s different for everyone. So continue your training, not too much and not too little. The interesting thing is how it feels after 3, 6 and 12 months of training.

            8 months later

            @mike did you have any device in your life that you can’t adjust by patching? I recently bought MacBook Pro m3 pro with mini led display and it’s the first device which I can’t use even with one eye covered. It gave me photophobia, and I don’t know what to do. Maybe you’ve got some advices? Patching changed my life and I can use any device with one eye closed instead of this particular one

              • Edited

              bisk89 Sort of, but right now I can use all screens and lights (incl. Philips Hue). I had to use different techniques to solve the issues. Patch the other eye or lights at 100%.

              And one more thing. It takes time, you can’t be in a hurry to fix this.

              Without offending anyone, I feel like I need to spread some positivity and celebrate the birth of a digital pirate:

              8 days later

              Is there any risk to my vision if I use an eye patch every day? I'm really afraid of destroying my eyes...

                bisk89 Mini led backlight flicker a lot, that why you can't use it…

                I have this thought, isn't it the case that the eyeglass correction makes it more difficult for us to get used to the screens? When we cover one eye, we force the other eye, (among other thing), to align properly, which may be hindered by the very correction in the glasses and/or the misaligned centers of the lenses relative to the eyeballs. Has anyone thought about these? Maybe if (in theory) we didn't have glasses and patched one eye, it would be easier and faster for us to adopt and cure the problem? What do you think about it?

                2 months later

                mike

                is there a tutorial video how to do it ?

                my lazy eyes in left, my dominance eye is right than i cover my right eyes right ? how long a day ?if i close my right eyes is it the same with patch right eyes ? because is kinda embarasing using eyes patch in public room,if closing right eye is the same with patch right eyes ?

                • mike replied to this.

                  hansennnnn Hi, it’s so individual with training. Patching and the screen/lights used for training.

                  Start patching the lazy eye, and look at a screen that doesn’t work for you. Do what feels comfortable, and don’t overdo it. Begin with some minutes and level up.

                    mike patching eyes means close my one eye right ?so patch the normal eye and use only lazy eyes to look screen

                    i am user glasses miopy,it wont effect my miopy eyes ?

                    Jo09 I asked this question to 3 separate neurologists and 2 eye doctors. They all said there was no risk or harm associated with patching. The only thing the pointed out was that if you patch while driving you need to account for the limited peripheral vision

                    dev