Greetings,
Sadly, I have joined the ranks of eye strain sufferers, yet I am encouraged by this community of people taking these issues seriously and sharing information that may help others. I am in my mid thirties, live the southwestern United States, and work in the field of digital forensics (which of course involves extensive screen time, mostly in a Microsoft Windows environment).
My issues began about two years ago, when several things changed in my life within a relatively short period of time (some of these factors seem less pertinent, but I have learned to have an open mind):
- I updated my personal/home Mac Pro computer from macOS Mojave to Monterey
- I upgraded the same computer from an NVIDIA GTX Titan (Kepler) to an AMD Radeon Pro WX 5100
- Our home was renovated with LED lighting everywhere
- I purchased an Apple MacBook Pro 2021 14-inch M1 Pro (a common theme here, it seems), along with several modern monitors with WLED backlights, to use as a new home setup
- I started a new regimen of vitamins (I would not consider this pertinent, but I experienced some brain fog after about a week, and I recently saw another person here who mentioned probiotics and brain fog)
By far, the most impactful factor seemed to be the 14-inch MacBook Pro and the modern screens connected to it. My symptoms were:
- Eye focus problems (shifting between UI elements on the screen felt like I had to completely re-focus)
- A sensation that everything on the screen was constantly moving under my eyes
- An uncomfortable sensation similar to a flashlight being pointed into my eyes
- After a period of time, a feeling of pinching between my eyes, headache, slight vertigo, dizziness, etc.
After extensive research and trying many suggested remedies (operating system settings, ICC calibration profiles, different monitor models, etc.), I cut my losses (of several thousand dollars), sold the MacBook, sold/returned the newer monitors, and went back to my original setup (still running macOS Monterey). I also tried to reduce LED home lighting usage and rely more on incandescent desk lamps. While my most acute symptoms were alleviated, I was never the same as before. I am now sensitive to most LED-backlit monitors made after around 2015, including the high-refresh gaming monitor I had previously used for years without problem (I believe those who noted the switch to red phosphors for LED backlights in the mid 2010s are onto something). No modern MacBooks are usable for me, and even the 2015 MacBook Pro (which I had used for years as a secondary machine) now gives me issues after a period of time. My Mac Pro (with older monitors) is tolerable for moderate use, but after a few days of heavy use I will have bloodshot eyes, headaches for several days, etc.
Currently, a comfortable setup is my Windows machines at work, connected to older monitors from the early 2010s. Actually, the most comfortable machine for me hands-down is a colleague’s machine at work, an older HP Zbook 15u G4 running Windows 10 (not sure which panel, as there were several configuration options). I can use my iPhone 6S and iPad Air 2 all day. Getting a good night’s sleep seems to be a huge help, although that is difficult at times with work-related stress and small children at home.
As far as I can tell, my main sensitivity seems to be to modern LED monitor backlights. My secondary sensitivity seems to relate to macOS, whether it be the UI (blurry fonts seemingly completely unaware of pixel boundaries), temporal dithering, GPU drivers, etc. I do not believe my particular issue is related to PWM, as my work-issued iPhone 12 does not seem to bother me.
I am still on my journey of learning, and I hope to contribute to the brain trust here as I learn more, as well as to help raise general awareness about our condition(s). Thanks once again to all who have contributed here.
