Discovered this recently, I always noticed it but thought it was a fluke, until I actually set aside some time to test it, and found it to be an actual phenomenon...

When I wear my eye patch over my right eye, I can use my Windows 10 PC nearly pain free. However, when I just close my right eye and am not wearing an eyepatch, I experience immediate symptoms, nearly as bad as if I had both eyes open and no patch. But with both eyes open and right eye patched, almost no symptoms

For some odd reason, blocking the right eye with an eyepatch works fine, but blocking the right eye by closing it imparts almost no benefit.

So I tried another experiment, I put on my eyepatch, and looked at the Windows 10 screen, and got almost no symptoms as normal. I then closed my right eye behind the eye patch and the symptoms returned immediately. I opened the eye (still behind the eyepatch) and the symptoms abated a little bit (although once triggered I stay triggered for a while.)

So it seems that on top of knocking out the vision of my right eye, it's state as being open or closed matters.

    ensete

    Nice experiment, but having to patch our eyes in order to be able to use a certain piece of equipment (monitor) is too much for me... This kills the whole notion of entertainment in front of a screen etc. implying that you only have to use it for working/making money and stay away from it for the rest of the time.

    There HAS to be another way! I love playing them PC games (for the biggest part of my life)… Guess I should feel lucky that I found the perfect monitor from the 3rd try… 😕

    • mike replied to this.

        I tried something similar one and a half years ago, but with less success. I used glasses which protect from IR light and taped so many post-its on the half where my 'worse' eye was, making sure that it was impossible for that eye to get any exposure to the light from a monitor. I kept both eyes open. After a day's work, of course my 'worse' eye felt alright, but my 'better' eye, while not as bad as when my 'worse' eye is exposed, felt much dryer and irritated than usual if I would not have had my 'worse' eye covered, because relying on only one eye leads to me closing my lids less even if I try to put some effort into closing them regularly. But even without the dryness, the 'better' eye felt more irritated than usual - but it didn't lead to the usual migraine I get, which is something at least though.

        So, if one of your eyes isn't (as) sensitive, I think it's worth a try.

          ensete So I tried another experiment, I put on my eyepatch, and looked at the Windows 10 screen, and got almost no symptoms as normal. I then closed my right eye behind the eye patch and the symptoms returned immediately. I opened the eye (still behind the eyepatch) and the symptoms abated a little bit (although once triggered I stay triggered for a while.)

          This is really interesting. From my understanding of what my ophthalmologist said, the eyepatch cuts off binocular vision and should erase any related symptoms, but nothing about whether the eye itself is open or closed. Out of curiosity, have you been checked for BVD?

            @ensete I know you have done VT in the past and have spent a great deal of money on worthless, snake-oil specialists but I think it is worth trying these things if you haven't:

            1. Neurolens (Find a Neurolens doctor here). The lenses come with a money back guarantee so there's little harm to try it.
            2. A NeuroVisual Optometrist (Find an NVM doctor here). These are ODs who were trained by Dr. Debby Feinberg in her techniques of treating patients for 20+ years. They mainly deal with prism, especially in extremely small vertical phorias that most other providers miss. An NVM specialist near NYC has a good FAQ here.
            3. A COVD Optometrist (COVD Website). These is an optometric specialty (e.g. board exams); these ODs specialize in binocular issues. They are more likely to offer VT than NeuroVisual Optometrists who mainly deal with prisms.

            In the USA, those are the three kinds of specialists I have found, that are competent in treating BVDs. I'd really start with Neurolens cause it's money back.

            ensete It makes a little sense. As BVD is muscle related, any extra tension that you need to do in order to keep the eye closed (have you ever tried for longer? Its quite exhausting and uncomfortable) might put tension on the ocular muscles, meaning the relaxation needed in the muscles wont be possible. Try holding your eyelid closed with your finger instead of keeping it closed by squinting the eye. That worked for me when first testing this patching method.

            Also it might be that when you do this, you focus a lot on having the eyes closed, therefore also focusing on the overall problem more. With the eyepatch, you can forget and relax, which reflects on the eye muscles as well.

              12 days later

              ensete

              Really happy to read this!

              Some months ago i posted a thread One-Eye-Success for 10+ users on LEDStrain. The one thing i wanted people to try was covering, not patching so you have both eyes open. I think the training for me with both eyes open and covering one eye have reprogrammed my brain/eye-muscles under the last years. So keep up training!

                Oshim but having to patch our eyes in order to be able to use a certain piece of equipment (monitor) is too much for me...

                For me doing that have reprogrammed my brain/eye-muscles so now i can use all screens. Before i was one of the users on LEDStrain that had must problems with screens, and now i can use OLED-screens 8h+ everyday with both eyes open and no covering looking at the screens.

                  mike thanks for the suggestion! Right now I have the equipment to have a strain-free life at home, but even though this is the case, I'm still interested to have this issue alleviated as otherwise I'm forced into remote work eternally, which is obviously not ideal and I'm not happy that most exposure that I experience outside leads to eye pain and migraines for several days. Therefore, as I have a safe environment at home, I could train my eyes with little exposure each day over a prolonged period of time without feeling mentally deflated afterwards.

                      seeker_of_no_light

                      I understand.

                      Back in 2012-2013 i avoided the problems. Around 2015 i could work 1 hour a day behind a old computer, with tension headache and hurting eyes 24/7. I wish i knew what i know today i hade started training right away. So my friendly recommendation is to start training right away, you don’t know when thing changes.

                        dev