logixoul
xelaos
mike
I actually spoke to my optometrist (The same one who prescribed Neurolens + my current lenses) about this subject a few days ago. Not sure if this applies universally, so I'd recommend checking with your doctors as well in case your situation is different than mine.
I told him that wearing the patch on my left eye yielded a medium reduction in symptoms, and that wearing it on the right eye yielded a larger reduction. He suggested that this may be happening for one of two reasons:
- I have binocular vision dysfunction, and wearing the patch allows the uncovered eye to relax during use instead of constantly trying to adjust.
- More simply, the patch just flat out reduces the level of flicker getting to my system, meaning I'd have less strain due to less input.
He said that he wouldn't recommend wearing the patch for more than ~4 hours a day, and only when I'm using problematic screens. He mentioned that overusing it could potentially lead to deprivation amblyopia since the patch is essentially training the brain to ignore signals from the occluded eye (It would take a long time & should be reversible, though). This was one optometrist's opinion, so I'm not 100% sure if this is the medical consensus, but this makes me think using the patch long-term is not a good solution. I'd definitely recommend checking with a doctor before doing it long-term, IMO.
Now, the interesting thing is that Mike's method of slightly covering one eye could potentially be very helpful in not only determining if the issue is #1 (BVD) or #2 (Flicker exposure), but it could also be a good long-term solution if it doesn't lead to any kind of amblyopia (Since the covered eye is still being used). I'm going to check with my ophthalmologist and get their opinion on it, I'll definitely post back when I get an answer.
**Side note: I've seen people mention that they would use the eyepatch for a while, then be able to use flickering screens with both eyes, but that ability would go away eventually and the pain would return. Could it be possible that using the patch extensively trained their brain slowly to ignore signals from the occluded eye, allowing them to use flickering screens w/ both eyes, but then went away as the eye recovered? It would make sense as to why the "cure" disappears like that.