Today is Day 7 of using a patch on my dominant eye. I bought a cheap eyepatch from Amazon, and have used it at least 4-5 hours per day while using problematic screens. Here are my impressions so far:

Devices used for the week: 2021 MacBook Pro 14", OLED LG TV, iPad 7th Gen. All caused the usual symptoms (gritty eyes, eye strain, headaches, pulsing feeling above eyes, dizziness, etc) with normal use without wearing a patch.

  • While patched, I'm able to use problematic screens for longer periods of time without symptoms.

  • When I do get symptoms, they're definitely less painful and less noticeable. For example, without the patch, I would frequently get a pulsing migraine-ish pain above my eyes while using problematic screens. This occurred less often with the patch and was much less painful when it did occur. Also, it seems to clear up faster.

  • I've noticed very little side effects from using a patch for 4-5 hours a day. I also spoke to my opthalmologist and she said that there shouldn't be any cause for concern regarding overuse of the patch in my case. My uncovered eye has gotten more tired than usual, but that seems to be a side effect of using it much more than usual.

    To summarize: the patch seemingly reduces my symptoms and lets me use problematic screens for longer periods of time. I still get the usual symptoms, though they seem to be less painful and clear up a bit more quickly.

    I'm going to finish out the day, then take a day completely off of screens tomorrow. Then, I'm going to spend a week with the patch on my non-dominant eye and see if there's any difference in symptoms.

    IMO, this is absolutely worth exploring further. I've spent four years now trying as many possible solutions as I could think of, and this is the first thing that's actually made some kind of tangible difference. I'm interested to see what happens when I patch my non-dominant eye, I'm really hoping it lessens the symptoms even further.

diop My eyes are physically straight. I've heard good things about Fixing My Gaze, probably will pick up a copy soon. In the meantime, what exercises are recommended? I'm new to this. Is there a YouTube video or something similar showing what to do?

    For those who are interested which binocular problem they have and why it is reduced during the time when they cover their eyes this video explains what could happen with your eyes while one eye is covered and how to describe it.

    I guess you could do it yourself with a recording of yourself or asking for someone to observe your eyes.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCS5fFodq3g&ab_channel=CarrickInstitute

      xelaos

      Thanks for posting this, this is really interesting. I’ve been checked out by several optometrists and opthalmologists, but I don’t remember them doing any tests like this. I’m really hopeful that this actually is the answer.

        I would also like to report that patching is continuing to help me. I had an early scare when the inner eye muscle on my patched eye had a spasming session lasting at least a couple of minutes. I really thought it was the end of my schooling, but surprisingly I recovered quickly.

        As I’ve continued to wear the patch, I’m not waking up as “pre-strained” as I normally would, a sign I take to mean my eyes are relaxing, at least a bit.

        I am using it for at least several hours a day. Although there seems to be benefits to patching either eye, I mostly patch my left eye as the vision out of my right is much sharper.

        Today is day 7 of patching my non-dominant (right) eye, and I'm happy to report that it's been very encouraging 😃

        Like I previously mentioned, I first patched my dominant eye (left) for a week, and had a slight/moderate reduction in symptom occurrence and intensity. After patching the non-dominant eye for a week, it feels like a moderate/major reduction. I've been using the patch for 6~ hours per day, and my worst symptoms have only been gritty eyes and slight fatigue in the eye I've been using. No headaches, no throbbing temple pain, nothing like that.

        I also performed test in the video from this post xelaos. I noticed that if my right eye is covered, then uncovered, my left eye seems to slightly adjust itself when I uncover the other eye. I'm not entirely sure what that means diagnosis or treatment-wise, but it seems that I do have some kind of binocular vision dysfunction (I think?)

        The only downside is that I was recently checked for glasses, and the pair I ended up with do nothing for flicker. I also tried Neurolens with no success, which is a little surprising, considering those are supposed to help with BVD. I'm hoping that I just didn't get the right pair for my eyes, or maybe the optometrist didn't notice my issue.

        My next step is to speak with my ophthalmologist + neurologist and see if there's anything new we can try with this new information. I'll definitely report back if I learn anything that may help.

            bkdo

            If they gave you the neurolens it means that you have binocular vision problems. Maybe they don't work for everyone, and we are certainly "special" cases 🙂

            For example, I have no problems with the PWM of OLED screens (I have an iphone X for 4 years and it has never given me problems, indeed it is one of the most comfortable devices) but I have some problems with bionocular vision and I would like to try the neurolens but I live in Italy and it is a bit complex to come to the US to get some glasses. My girlfriend is half American so I could visit her family members next summer and try the neurolens, let's see…

            in the meantime I am studying what is called proprioception dysfunction syndrome, I leave you a link:

            https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.covd.org/resource/resmgr/vdr/vdr_5_2/VDR5-2_invitedarticle_Alves-.pdf

            I have been diagnosed with this problem and i should start to use a prism lens in the right eye of 3 prismatic diopter at 190 °.

            I will keep you informed!

              @martin

              I think that you should read the PDF I posted above, it's super interesting!

              I have the exophoria closely and I have always thought that I would need an internal base prism! Instead, the doctor specialized in PDS (and his optometrist) have prescribed me a prism with 3 diopters prismatic with external base (190 °) only in the right eye (which is the one in which I feel the greatest muscular tensions starting from the eye to the ear). I'll copy you a piece of the article in which he speaks directly of this contradiction:

              J.B. Baron also showed in his practice that
              in some human patients having insufficiency
              of convergence, improvement was obtained
              through the use of low powered base out
              prism. That was quite unexpected, because it
              was written in all textbooks of strabismus that
              the direction of prism indicated to help under­
              convergence should be a base in rather than a
              base out prism.
              The fact that many patients responded
              positively to base out prism was the intriguing
              fact that promoted the first author’s clinical
              investigation. Methodical patient evaluation
              brought the new knowledge that these cases
              were the ones we classified as left pure PDS
              type. Clinical investigation also concluded that
              patients with convergence insufficiency not
              responding to base out prism belonged to other
              PDS types that responded positively to other
              kinds of prisms. We therefore theorized that
              when prisms helped, we were eliminating the
              underlying problem that resulted in the postural
              condition rather than masking a symptom.
              This was the basis for the establishment of
              the active prism treatment protocol that was
              developed by the first author3 and validated in
              the following years.6
              The protocol of active prism consists of
              prescribing low powered prismatic lenses
              from 1 to 4 diopters with base out or upper
              temporal base, applied to one or both eyes
              simultaneously.

              mike So this is what i want people to try:
              Look with both eyes open.
              Keep an bad-screen-phone in your left hand, a bit to the left.
              Put your right hand open and standing between your nose and your right eye.

              Hi,

              Could you please explain the reason why this might work? I mean, why do you think it might be better than just wearing an eyepatch?

                  logixoul

                  I think that if you just cover the screen, you still have the peripheral vision of your "covered eye" and it doesn't go completely in its resting position.

                      logixoul

                      I wish I had the perfect answer.

                      First I discovered that covering one eye did so I could look at bad screens. Then i I discovered after some weeks that I could look with both eyes at an bad screen (iPhone 5S) and it worked so much better then before.

                      The question is what i did to get that progress, was it only covering one eye!? I think that have both eyes open could have helped.

                      For me going from a iPhone 7 to a iPhone 11 Pro took 9 months of training, so bear in mind that it can take some time of training. Don’t expect results direct.

                          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:

                          1. I have binocular vision dysfunction, and wearing the patch allows the uncovered eye to relax during use instead of constantly trying to adjust.
                          2. 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.

                                  bkdo 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.

                                  I look forward for your post back on that!

                                  bkdo **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.

                                  Now it’s 3 years ago i started my one eye training. For the first 1,5-2 years i trained quite much, after that I haven’t train so much. I haven’t loss any progress, just going forward.

                                  “ In some instances, an eye patch may need to be worn over the dominant eye. This helps strengthen the weaker eye over time. Depending on the severity of the condition, this may be the only course of action needed at this time. Patients may only need to wear the eye patch for a short period of time in order to achieve satisfactory results.”
                                  https://www.dizzinessandheadache.com/blog/binocular-vision-dysfunction.html

                                        I wonder to myself what might happen with my current glasses because I am using two all the time.

                                        I wear my old glasses at the computer because they're less blurry at the distance to the screen. With those my right eye is in clear focus and my left eye slightly blurry. With my new glasses (which I wear outdoors) at the screen my left eye is in clear focus and my right eye is quite blurry..

                                        And it's looking like I need a third one now for reading.. Some people have progressive lenses.. I wonder if I would hate those.

                                        bkdo . 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?

                                        I am not an expert but I think this is entirely possible. Patching too much may cause this. This is called suppression -- when the brain ignores the input from one eye. The person is not consciously aware it occurs; one eye isn't dark or anything.

                                          mike

                                          Mike, did you train your eye to ignore the input of the "covered eye"? I know not willingly but as a result. Did you do some tests to verify that you still see both images when looking at problematic devices? Maybe with an cover / uncover test.

                                          • mike replied to this.

                                              xelaos

                                              Interesting question. After your post I have tried some cover / uncover test, and moved a finger on the side of an eye, where the other eye don’t see for the nose. What I can tell I look with both eyes on the screen. If someone know of an online test i can take for this i can try it.

                                                I'm doing this "pirate" method now consistently, switching eyes. I'm using it with "sunscreen" though, so no LED backlight. I would say it feels better.

                                                A quick update about my eyepatch exercises.

                                                As reported here, I went through quite some stress owing to a change of hardware at work. I was really in pain and with no way out on sight, so I decided to increase the time spent with an eye patch on. Earlier, patching either one or the other eye had turned out easy and pleasant while reading at night. These days instead I would quickly lose sight of the text on my Kindle and often see a black halo. It took me a short while to figure out what the halo was. Simply, my uncovered eye would either erratically jump from the target or switch off, and I would see the patch in front of the covered but open eye. Insisting to read caused quite a strong nausea and headache. In the subsequent days, I began using a second type of eye patch at work as well, one that I could slide on my glasses with neutral blue light-cutting lenses. I changed the patch from the left to the right eye every half an hour for a total of 4-5 hours a day. I also had to work long hours and I slept really little. After 3-4 days I woke up on a Saturday morning and my eyes could not sustain reading a sign in the street. They would cross. This had never occurred to me. I took a couple of days of rest and I am now back to decent conditions, I mean, I can work. It was scary, though.

                                                My symptoms have plateaued. They are still bad but I hope in a few weeks I will be able to use the new hardware with acceptable pain. It had taken me a few weeks to get used to my HP ZBook Firefly 15 G7 Mobile Workstation on Windows 10 as well.

                                                xelaos I guess you could do it yourself with a recording of yourself or asking for someone to observe your eyes.

                                                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCS5fFodq3g&ab_channel=CarrickInstitute

                                                I have the feeling that this is what happens to me when I am exposed to bad devices / lighting. My eyes can't keep their focus anymore. They jump around. During my orthoptist's visits, I never had this issue, because I always happened to be in a decent condition. I am due to see the orthoptist in a week. Hopefully, she can pick a change of the movements of my eyes and say if they jump outwards or inwards when my symptoms are triggered.

                                                    AGI I have the feeling that this is what happens to me when I am exposed to bad devices / lighting. My eyes can't keep their focus anymore

                                                    Please be extra careful. If you feel any problems with light afterwards, consider the following.
                                                    From you description it seems your symptoms could be a bvd, but also could be an eye reaction to some sort of dangerous light, which I have. It triggers eyes to immediately extra converge when looking at the phone, and later eyes cant return to normal position. I also cant read some signs afterwards, have to fix that with exercises.
                                                    But that is only a small, least dangerous portion of things it causes to me. The dangerous part is growing light sensitivity, some sort of small retina or cornea damage, immediate red eyes, red blood vessels appearing the moment I look at the device etc.
                                                    Eyes need some time to heal from the damage.

                                                    P.S. I just noticed you wrote "white background glows inhomogeneously" in another thread. That seems to be somehow connected to what I am researching; other people with reaction to some sort of light often mention blinding white, sparkling white, spiky white.
                                                    There where two reports when lowering the contrast helped. That is dependent on device though, only few of them can be fixed that way.

                                                      dev