ensete Also, I noticed that if I close one eye, I get significantly LESS relief than wearing an eyepatch over an open eye.
Is that because the patch blocks the light stimulus more efficiently than the closed eye?
Not exactly the same scenario, but check this video out (I found it on https://mindeye.com/traumatic-brain-injury/). The patient struggles carrying out exercises when his closed eyes are exposed to a light source. Go to 7:16 if you don't want to watch the whole thing.
Hi @mike Your story as I understand sounds so similar to mine. My issues with screens started after having lazer surgery and i am really struggling these days with all types of screens. However, using my E-ink monitor is alot better (not great but better) and helps me get through the work day. Is E-ink and maybe even RLCD also better for you? I also attend VT and have been diagnosed with convergence insuffiency. Sadly, i have been doing this for 6 months now but without see any real improvement.
CrestfallDreaming Interesting to read your story, and especially the part with laser surgery.
To the big question, have you tried covering/patching one eye?
@"mike"
Again, sorry I dont think I'm doing this correctly. Is it possible we get a topic posted with the exact insturctions of what you're doing for the patching training? - something 'locked' that just has the instructions? Is it simply a case of covering the dominant eye so the other eye works harder and then using a device that causes issues for a few minutes each day, increasing each day?
Or is it the other way round, only using the dominant eye?
Or do you do both? train the weaker eye then the dominant eye?
When I patch my right eye, which seems to be the dominant eye - if I point to something and alternately close my eyes the item I am ponting at is always there when I use my right eye only, so my left eye is not dominant.
Or if i do something like this test:
https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-to-determine-eye-dominance-3421648
The object will remain 'there' when I only have my right eye open, closed it 'moves' / I cannot see it.
If I patch with my right eye so only using the left eye I can tell there is a difference, it causes me some headache pain in general and I also see what looks like TV static. - I have not tried looking at 'problem' devices yet though as I had to take a break from testing my graphics card as the constant migraine and daily pain got too much for me.
mike i have tried and it surely makes a difference. If i use both eyes text sometimes get blurry. However eye by eye the text isnt, so i am sure i have issues with convergence. Sadly i Also struggle with dry eye and i dont know if my dry eye is solely due to my convergence issue or “just” a side effect of the surgery.
CrestfallDreaming Keep up training with one-eye-covered!
For me walking on gravel and looking down on the gravel I also can see a bit blurry. Sometimes with screens it have got a little blurry, but that’s a small problem.
I also have/had dry eyes. I think it’s from looking at bad screens, because after 3 years of training with one-eye-covered it’s much better than before. For me it wasn’t from the surgery what I could tell.
mike ok thanks i Will try. Which eye did you cover and for how many hours a day?
CrestfallDreaming My right non-dominant eye, i started with one hour a day, then increased.
mike Hmm seems a bit strange that you cover your non dominant eye. Isnt the entire idea to strenghthen the non dominant?
CrestfallDreaming the idea is to relearn/reprogram our brain/eyes/eye muscles so we don’t get tension and red eyes.
mike Thanks for your replys Mike. Did you switch back and forth when training or did you continue to only patch the None dominant?
CrestfallDreaming Almost all training with covering my right non-dominant eye. I switch sometimes, but switch back after a while because it didn’t feel as good as covering my non-dominant eye.
I did some experimentation with a diy reflective lcd monitor setup that I made. I made it by taking my HP 22es monitor and stripping the front surface of the screen down to the bare glass of the LCD panel itself. I then spray painted the rear surface of the lcd panel with white paint to make it reflective. I disconnected the lcd backlight. I wear polarized sunglasses in place of the front polarizer layer that I removed. It's too dark to be useable normally but there were some interesting effects I've found in experimenting with it.
Primarily that the reflective properties of the panel now are similar to a comb filtering effect of directional speakers. Here is a polar plot picture of what I mean.
Here's a youtube video demonstrating the effect from shining a bright flashlight with a highly directional beam onto the screen. The moving light and dark bands of light are the alternating bright and dark reflectance of the screen depending on the viewing angle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUCQZ0mF7-8
I wonder if this comb filtering effect causes the eyes to see slightly different images when looking at the screen and thus just using a single eye alleviates this issue of conflicting signals. I do feel that LCD screens seem easier to focus on clearly the farther back I am from them. I wonder if it's because the eyes are far enough away to not be subject to this comb filtering effect.
Also I wonder if the "static" and "sparkling" effect of the screen that many posters are experiencing, myself included is something of a combination of the comb filtering effect, temporal dithering of the LCD panel, and the effects of the various backlight film layers described in this thread https://ledstrain.org/d/1458-ips-screen-parts-description-and-dangerous-parts-hypothesis-lightvergence that create a kind of unfixable flickering/dithering.
Even a panel with no temporal dithering might still have this glittery effect as the combination of the backlight film layers and lcd panel will create that sort of glittery graininess that will change depending on the viewing angle, and as your eyes and head are constantly moving, the glittery graininess of the screen will be constantly changing, essentially mimicking temporal dithering.
I don't know what's causing this effect but I'm sure it's possible, considering that different panel types manipulate light differently, as demonstrated by things like differing viewing angles, ips glow, etc. "Comb filtering" is just a term I borrowed from audio as that's the most similar "looking" thing I could think of. I'm sure there are better terms as the underlying mechanisms between the two I assume are completely different.
In my experience the less thick the backlight setup is the easier it is to focus on the screen. Desktop lcds more difficult than laptop lcds more difficult than phone lcds, OLED and front projectors being the easiest to focus on (eyestrain from other mechanisms like flicker aside). My diy reflective setup should be the easier than normal screens to focus on since there's no backlight thickness at all, so all that's left is the thickness of the rear polarizer film and the lcd panel itself, and in some ways it is. But this new reflectance effect is rather perplexing. I wonder if Sun Vison Display encountered this issue when developing their monitor. There are definitely funky things going on with the interaction between the backlight, light diffusing layers, and lcd panel.
Very cool stuff.
I've been wondering at what distance is a problematic phone tolerable for people? If I stretch my arm out as far as possible, I can tolerate a phone for a few more minutes before getting a headache. And then also, does the viewing angle of the phone make a difference? Perhaps we can all experiment with this and share the results.
CrestfallDreaming I just returned from my first visit to a neuro-optometrist. From the first series of tests he reckons that my left eye tends to over-converge at near distance and I should try to use prismatic lenses. He is of the opinion that, for people older than 15 years old, loose prism exercises and eye-patching may provide temporarily relief but cannot teach the brain to process visual signals correctly for good. It is too late for that. For adults he suggests eventually patching the weak eye for a short time. Patching the dominant eye would produce more fatigue than benefits. The dominant eye is only to be patched in kids suffering from amblyopia.
I am just reporting what I was told. Clearly, orthoptists and optometrists have different schools of thought.
So we patch the weak eye to make the dominant eye work harder / get stronger itself as its dominant anyway?
I'm wondering then, my right eye is the dominant eye and it is also the eye with the astigmatism.
I would love for all my migraine symptoms to just be because I need different glasses / perscription etc. Even though I had issues before I got glasses! I guess I will have to try and have more eye tests as last one said no difference in perscription needed…and I get symptoms with either eye.
HAL9000 So we patch the weak eye to make the dominant eye work harder / get stronger itself as its dominant anyway?
I do not think so, but please note that I am not a specialist and I am only inferring. You are not trying to make your dominant eye stronger. If your eyes are unable to work together, i.e., one eye is lazy, your brain may have a hard time, and temporarily using only the good eye could be less fatiguing than using the good and the bad eye together. Your dominant eye must be able to "see well", though, so, if it is astigmatic, you will need to wear corrective glasses while you are patching. This is not going to make your dominant eye better nor it is going to improve the condition of your weak eye, and in the long term it is of no use according to the neuro-optometrist. He recommended prismatic lenses. The two orthoptists I visited instead prescribed eye exercises and agreed to patching my dominant eye to attempt to teach the weak eye to behave. As I said, different schools of thought…
