Losing hope...is a projector a good option for eyetrain?

ZenXLaika

since I've started having headaches and migraine with literally every screen, I feel hopeless…if anyone with eyestrain has any good tips for display settings on an android, please let me know and if buying a projector is a good option for people with eyestrain and astigmatism sufferers?

Seagull

I find LCD projectors are fine, low resolution short throw projectors can be found cheaply secondhand.

I have an unusual suggestion for you, given that everything is getting worse for you. Foods are one of my eye strain triggers: cooking oils, spices and some other odd things. If you are desperate, you might try eating a bland diet and keeping a record too see if you find a connection between what you eat and your eyestrain.

ZenXLaika

Seagull hmm…you might be right about the diet thing..I do have low iron most of the time and vitamin deficiencies, I have the same diet and nothing really changed…I eat spicy foods from time to time though, all I did was binge and I ended up getting sensitive to most screens and got diagnosed with mild astigmatism, I also can't read books or make drawings, because those activities make me feel dizzy, can't even draw lines….it seems that this is associated with a particular gaming laptop I had started using months ago and binged on it for weeks until I started feeling lightheaded and got chronic eyestrain, I was thinking if a projector gives me eyestrain since you aren't directly looking at a screen, I've heard alot of people saying that it's no better for your eyes, right now the only device I can look at without having dry eyes is my main phone which is a xioami redmi note 8, although I do end up with a migraine if I stare too long.

mazury

I tried it once, I remember that my eyes would still hurt and the image was far worse than that from normal screen. Ditched it quickly, moved back to screen with minimal brightness

ZenXLaika

mazury

mazury what symptoms did you have exactly? with a projector?

hayder1983

ZenXLaika you are having dry eyes. You wrote it yourself. Go see a doctor because of dry eyes. It might help at least a bit.
I think dry eyes are no problem with a projector.

mazury

ZenXLaika same as with normal screen. For me that was eye pain.

ZenXLaika

mazury I have migraine and pain in the back of my head usually..never experienced eye pain, only dryness and irritation with certain screens and facial irritation….I did try looking at a "homemade" projector once and didn't experience those symptoms, but than again a real one might have a different impact on the eyes, so how are you coping with your eyestrain and for how long have you had this, did it get slightly better and what measures did you take for it? like getting new glasses? eye drops or make the display warmer for eyes?

mazury

ZenXLaika It's a long story for me actually, you can check my other replies on this forum from last week, I think I described my issues there in more details. I'm a web developer btw. I had some pain for 2 years already, but nothing really serious, always just set minimum brightness and was good to go. It all started 3,5 months ago with sudden dizziness onset. Since then I'm basically useless to society and have to drag myself through the day in hopes that my next appointment will move me further into solving this. For 3 months I was mainly focused on my sinuses which I thought was causing this. However I had sinus surgery 3 weeks ago and my eyes did not improve a bit, actually they got worse a little. I will have two appointments next week with orthoptist and optometrist who will check my eyes. My symptoms are eye pain, soreness and general sensitiveness, which increase when looking at screens and second thing is feeling that images from both eyes are out of sync, like they are somehow misaligned - it's hard to explain though, because I don't see double and blurry, but there is this strange delay or something…

hayder1983

Never had eye strain with a projector. Saw one in the museum 4 weeks ago. Was nice to watch a short movie with it.

ZenXLaika

hayder1983 thats why I'm considering getting one, since my eyes don't like most screens anymore and I have work to do, I just know it won't give me an eyestrain like screens do, I swear this problem has ruined my life and is giving me more stress, nobody can relate to this around me and everyone keeps saying I need to take breaks from screens, I did for over a month and it didn't get me anywhere and the worst part is that even activities that don't require screentime are making me dizzy..like reading books and drawing…heck his problem triggered when I finished a drawing..which makes me think that this could be something more than eyestrain..

hayder1983

ZenXLaika first of all be sure to check your eye health. Drink alot of water, use eye drops without any preservative(!) because dry eyes are a multiplier to all other symptoms(Including dizziness/nausea) .
Just buy an older projector and resell if it doesnt work. Something 2015 or sth like that.
I had terrible nausea/dizziness/brain fog, but it got better after abandoning the benq screen i have. I can relate. I thought sitting on a chair was impossible. Had symptoms like being poisoned.

ZenXLaika

mazury Thankyou for sharing your story I'm actually new here so I didn't read your previous posts and I'm sorry, I hope you find a permanent solution for your eyes, there is a chance this problem can go away completely for some and no you are not useless to society, you can still manage your symptoms somehow I'm sure, have you tried sunglasses to reduce strain? I tried that and wore them over my glasses while looking at a computer screen, it worked a bit to reduce strain for me, even though the dizziness was still there.

ZenXLaika

hayder1983 you might be right, I could look at screens just fine before, I mentioned that this happened after binging overnight on this particular gaming laptop (Im unable to look at the laptop's screen now) and most laptops, I get lightheaded whenever I'm reading on screen, like my eyes have trouble focusing…and only certain screens give me dry eyes

when this started, I was experiencing severe dry irritated eyes whenever I looked at any screen and it was painful to close my eyes, then I started using artificial tears and my dry eyes alot better…and a break for weeks.

As soon as I received my new corrective glasses, my eyes slowly got used to my redmi note 8, I'm still getting lightheaded and get dry eyes with most screens, I don't get dry eyes when I avoid screens..so I highly doubt this is related to dry eyes only, this is also astigmatism at play, i think I made it worse because of my computer habits

I only end up getting migraines with my current phone if I read or stare too long, either I'm wearing the wrong precription or I have a case of sudden onset ledstrain.

hayder1983

ZenXLaika try to find eye drops usable for chronical dry eyes. Get in touch with your eye doctor how often you should take them. I take them 4 times a day, strong ones that are without preservative. Every eye drop in a small bottle is actually containing preservative.
It sounds not as important, but at the moment i am nauseafree, all because of fighting the dry eyes.

ZenXLaika

hayder1983 Thankyou, I will consider your advice.

1NGIBITOR

ZenXLaika

Try to connect PC to a monitor with DVI cable. I found it the most comfortable for my eyes. No hdmi or displayport. Don't use nvidia or amd GPU. Just intel integrated graphic adapter + DVI.

About andoid. I would avoid using modern > 60Hz screens.

ZenXLaika

1NGIBITOR my main phone has 60hz screen, it sucks cuz all the other phones in my house are the same… I wonder if I can change settings , I'm really not in the position to get another phone and none of the screens in my house are older..or comforting for the eyes..any settings for modern android screens that I need to know? if all else fails I might have to rely on a projector..

Sunspark

ZenXLaika For your phone, turn on night mode (black backgrounds instead of white) and turn on blue light filter and move the slider all the way so it's orangey. You can also experiment with greyscale mode as well (it's a setting in Wind Down in Samsungs). You can experiment with disable hw overlays in the developer settings, though I don't use this. If I stare too much at white backgrounds, I can get a migraine.

I think part of your problem is contrast. Try not using white backgrounds with black text. Use warmer backgrounds with text that isn't pure black. For web browsing on my PC I use the dark reader extension all the time.

ZenXLaika

Sunspark Thankyou, my phone is a xioami redmi note 8 2019 and i already have it on dark mode..I turned the blue light feature one and the orange display feels too bright, since I've also become light sensitive along with this problem.