I think optometry as a whole is one of the most underdeveloped professions. Take a script to 5 different optometrist and you will get completely different scripts from each one, not even just margin of error level changes. There is a lot of variation between medical doctors but I don't think it's as bad as between optometrists. The practice of sitting in a chair and is A or B better now pony up for your $400 lenses is so flawed and should be completely scrapped for a more patient-centric approach where you figure out what you need from a lens on your own time doing activities that are relevant to you. Only exception here is when lenses are needed to meet a driving ministry test.

One more thing. I think those of us having to turn down the brightness on the screen to super low (I know not everyone here has that problem, but a significant number do), so very unfortunate. I mean, we have to make it very dim or else it causes headaches, but it's very bad for accommodation. The dim screen makes it way harder to focus and really stresses your ciliary muscles (and ciliary contractions are intrinsically linked to convergence). So what starts off with a sensitivity to certain technology, after a lot of strain and pain, becomes eventually a wide ranging asthenopia problem requiring complex refractive corrections. Often times, I can't make out a damn thing on the screen, I turn up the brightness and bam it's very readable (I always have text and ui elements huge so don't suggest that lol), but I have to turn it down shortly because of the oncoming headache.

My optometrist did find one interesting thing though. For a long time the pupil on my right eye has been larger than my left. When we did imaging you can see that the nerve into my right pupil is much smaller, meaning less parasympathetic input into that pupil. This impairs accommodation and pupil constriction. I have no idea how/when this happened because it wasn't like that when I was a kid. None of my family seems to have any idea when it happened so it seems to me like it came on gradually. I think me or others close to me would have noticed if one of my pupils suddenly got larger one day.

KM Well my right eye also starts to hurt first, but I got mild astigmatism which is 0.75 on the right eye and 0.25 on the left, so it would explain this. But for you guys who do not have astigmatism, I am not sure why. Maybe one of our eyes are always stronger? Or maybe when we look at things, one of the eyes concentrates more thant the other?

    randomboolean Not sure. If I have astigmatism, the eye doctors didn't tell me. I only have this problem when I look at most displays or when there is certain artificial lighting in sight range. It's the eye I see sharpest with.

    11 days later

    ryans Some of those posts are old (2001). Display and GPU technology is much different then it was 17 years ago.

    I'm still interested in the medical implications of solving all our problems, as my vision continues to get better with the cannabis stuff and I'm starting to use screens more for the first time in 7 years.

    @JTL Is cannabis the only thing that has helped? Could it be related to anxiety?

    • JTL replied to this.

      ryans Is cannabis the only thing that has helped?

      Pretty much. Why should I use less effective anti-seizure medications that have worse side effects?

      Could it be related to anxiety?

      Doubt it. I guess it's some sort of neurological interaction between eyes and over excitation of neurons? Similar to photosensitive epilepsy in my case.

      This post from the iPhone X eyestrain thread is interesting.

      https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/eye-strain-while-using-iphone-x.2085427/page-40#post-25832913

      I'm reading over the forum, AFAIK the main issue with iPhone X is PWM because of the OLED display? I've found other iPhone models like iPhone 8 to cause eye strain, even though it doesn't use PWM.

      I'm a big fan of Android and still stuck with my Galaxy S5, going to try the S9 when it comes out, but I'm not holding my breath.

      • JTL replied to this.

        ryans AFAIK the main issue with iPhone X is PWM because of the OLED display

        Yes, possibly the Face ID as well since it's a pulsating infrared LED, and staring at an infrared LED is similar to looking at the sun. I've accidently looked into a gaming mouse sensor with an infrared LED and it hurt real bad. DON'T DO THAT.

        • KM replied to this.

          Has anyone tried any supplements like L-Theanine or Ashwagandha to help them? The only one seeming to help people on here was Lutein which has done nothing for me.

          ryans Yes, and he also mentioned the see sick syndrome - https://www.seesicksyndrome.com/
          Has anyone here tried the exercises yet?
          Im doing it now and I must say that it starts very similar head-pressure and headache symptoms like the screens that give me issues. It is the first time I was able to reproduce this feeling without using any computer.
          It mentions photophobia, dizziness, anxiety, headaches... its visual motion allergy basically, which is what flicker and whatever else that new win 10 and some OS updates seem to be doing.
          Also in the testimonials some people mention it in connection with TMJ etc., which were discussed here earlier too.

          I will keep doing it and see if it can make me desensitized to the stressors completely.

          • JTL replied to this.

            Might be worth trying the exercises.

            Interestingly, in spite of all the things I've been doing RIGHT lately (diet, exercise, supplements) I've had a bit of a slide the past few days...

            My new Nintendo Switch is pretty much unusable (which makes me sad, might have to return or sell a system I saved up for), and even my XBox One was giving me issues last night just watching YouTube which normally NEVER bothers me.

            On the other hand, I had a couple other health issues that caused me to discontinue my supplements for a few days, so I wonder if I'm really so retinally deficient that...

            I've experienced some improvement in my photosensitivity lately, for about 2 weeks now. Found out that my SSRI medication was causing mydriasis. I researched the mechanism and was able to counter it with a low dose of a drug that blocks the serotonin receptor responsible (5-HT2a).

              ryans Olanzapine 1.25 - 2.5 mg has decreased my pupil diameter dramatically. Doesn't touch D2 receptors at 1.25 mg and hardly at 2.5 mg (antagonizing D2 receptors is the anti-psychotic action of these drugs).

              The other thing that would work is very low dose risperidone (0.25 -0.5 mg). This might be the better option since risperidone doesn't block H1 or muscarinic acetylcholine significantly at that dose. However I wanted the mild sedative effect of olanzapine so I chose it instead.

              Passive 5-HT2a agonism is probably the MOA of SSRI-induced mydriasis. Someone not taking an SSRI probably wouldn't get the same miotic effect of these drugs.

              Second generation anti-psychotics in low doses are the most selective 5-HT2a antagonists available on the market. The other commonly available 5-HT2a antagonist is mirtazapine but it is insanely sedating at doses needed to significantly occupy that receptor. It's one of the most potent H1 receptor antagonists available.

              For a natural supplement one could try a Feverfew extract standardized to 600 mcg parthenolide. Mygrafew is one such product. I haven't tried it myself.

              I have a "Pupil Size" PubMed collection if people are interested.

              Here is a recent study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28504010

              Pupil diameter was significantly larger in patients receiving SSRIs for <6 months and ≥6 months than the control subjects (3.53 ± 0.71 mm, 3.48 ± 0.60 mm versus 3.11 ± 0.72 mm, p < 0.05) but this effect was independent from the duration of SSRI treatment... Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors cause mydriasis which is persistent during the treatment...

              The eye-drop Alphagan-P reduces pupil size in dark conditions in healthy people.

              https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21333872

              Under dark conditions, the mean pupil diameter was 6.76 ± 1.08 mm before instillation of brimonidine 0.10% and 5.30 ± 0.85 mm after instillation; the difference was statistically significant (P<.001). There was a clinically significant reduction in pupil diameter after 6 hours in 90.4% of eyes. The antimydriatic effect under dark luminance conditions was more pronounced in eyes with light irides... Brimonidine 0.10% ophthalmic solution had an antimydriatic effect under dark luminance conditions and had a negligible effect on pupil diameter under light luminance conditions...

                Has anyone considered the merit of filing a lawsuit against these companies like Intel for damaging our health?

                  ryans Would be hard to prove in a court of law without medical studies, no? Plus many consumer products come with lots of disclaimers absolving the companies from liability.

                  And lot's be honest. They aren't malicious. It's just an unfortunate side effect that comes with the central nervous system causing photosensitive epilepsy type problems (as it was in my case), or similar.

                    dev