Hi all,
I am new here, found this forum while looking for possible eye symptoms.
I am a research professor working in the USA. I am 39 and have been using computers (at least) several hours a day for the last 20 years without any issue that I can recall. I have been wearing glasses (for slight myopia) for 30 years.
Back in October, I switched from a Dell Precision 5520 (1080p panel) to a MacBook Pro 16. I didn't realize at the time the connection, but I started feeling lightheaded with mild headaches after a week or so of use (and at the time I was only working a few broken hours a day on the laptop). I also had this weird sensation that my eyes were not focusing properly. These symptoms continued on for a couple weeks with the addition of heart palpitations (not sure if that part is related in any way). Went to the ER, did a million tests, followed up with my GP. Nothing was found at all.
However, the eye symptoms were really not that severe until a couple weeks ago. I started working 8-10 hours a day on my laptop, and I was getting some pretty bad eye strain in the afternoon. However, a good night's sleep would help dramatically, and I would feel fine in the morning. I chucked the specific eye symptoms off as I thought they were related to possible other health issues.
It's now been a week that the eye strain doesn't get better after sleeping. What's odd is that I mostly feel it in my right eye, which has become painful at times. One possible (perhaps far-fetched?) link to this one-sided problem is that I had a neck dissection 3 years ago. There was clearly some nerve damage and I remember having issues after surgery when I would drive and the sun would shine through the trees. This sort of low frequency light change was bothering my eyes a lot. It subsided after a few weeks, though.
Now, even after using my laptop all day, I have trouble watching a movie using my projector (which should not induce strain, I believe). Since yesterday, I have tried a few things to possibly help (maximum brightness, then using a 3rd party software to reduce the brightness without triggering the PWM), changing the .icc profile, adding some yellow tint, ... . Nothing seems to make a difference. I don't know if the temporal dithering might be the culprit.
I am trying to use my old laptop as much as possible right now (starting today), and despite not feeling the same strain on my eye muscles, my right eye still hurts. I can't believe I didn't see the connection before yesterday!
Anyway, I don't know if anybody has had the same problem with what appear to be lingering symptoms (and possibly this one-sided issue), but I would love to hear about such experiences and if reverting to a previously used screen solved the problem.
Obviously, I am not quite sure what to do about my MacBook. I really like this computer but I will most likely try to avoid using it completely over the winter break and hope that this will solve my symptoms.
Other device used without apparent issues:
- Iphone 8 (for 2 years now)