OLED Has left me with a lifetime neurology condition.

AbiYork

Hi everyone,

I updated my Iphone X (Yes I know that had OLED) for an Iphone 12pro.

Awful daily headaches for a couple of weeks until I made the connection to the phone.

Bought an Iphone 11 and things started to ease however the pain reduced to a 5/10 and never went.

I sat at constant 5/10 pain with occasion peaks 9/10 pain that meant I had to lie down and knock back pain killers.

I was diagnosed incorrectly by my GP in the UK and managed to get help through a group called OUCH UK. They are a group who help eachother through a condition called Cluster Headaches and whilst this isnt what I had, their support group have a wealth of knowledge and told me where to go to get answers.

I paid privately to see Professor Ahmed, a headache specialist neurologist who diagnosed me with NDPH (New Persistent Daily Headache) a condition I will most likely have for life.

2 years on I am currently on my 5th different prescription drug (which is helping ok atm). Once this fails, which they all eventually do, I will be having 40 botox injections into my scalp on a monthly basis to see if this works.

My condition is usually brought on by trauma (car crash, head bash etc) but anything can trigger it really and the clinic were really interested in my story as it starts to answer other clients diagnosis in the future.

Long story short. Please give up attempting to make a device work for you if your pain is significant.

I would happily use a Nokia 3310 for the rest of my life if my pain would go away.

Wishing you all the best of health in the future.

Sunspark

AbiYork Instead of taking neuro drugs, you could consider taking CBD and see how you do.

Could also buy an used X and use that one at 50% brightness while you're coming off the prescriptions. If you're still using the 11 you should probably stop.

Abeabe

Abi, I'm so sorry to read what happened to you, I hope you get better in the future, maybe if you try to take a break from any screen for a few weeks?, you're right, it's better not to try adapt to any led screen using pwm or oled screen if there is any discomfort, in the long run it is much worse, you become more sensitive to flickering lights.

AgentX20

At the risk of sounding like someone posting about 'led-strain' in other forums to which everyone says "get your eyes checked"…. have you tried to eliminate screens and led lamps from your life for a sustained period of time?

I know for a fact that if I didn't have my current 10-year old Macbook to to work on, my trusty but so-tired old iphone 6S, and my Win 10 - v1511/very specific GTX970 video card/Dell 2407 setup, and was instead using 'bad' phones and computers that I would certainly have permanent ongoing headaches and brain fog.

Clokwork

This really hits me in the soft spot. An OLED TV what took me down. Ever since then it’s been downhill for pretty much 99% of newer panels.

BloodyHell619

This is exactly the sad conclusion I have also come to and been telling a few other places in this forum. If a device strains you, don't try to get use to it. It's like your eyes and brain become even more aware of the flicker, and eventually every device you have had from the past that worked will start to become unusable.

K-Moss

Anyone else suffering a permanent condition from OLED exposure?

randomboolean

K-Moss Sorry to hear about your experience. And Yes. About 10 years ago, a top-end MacBook Pro did something to me that I’ve never fully recovered from. Luckily, I can still manage with old or very simple tech when my health is in its best shape. Have you been able to adapt fully or partially to something yet?

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs

randomboolean And Yes. About 10 years ago, a top-end MacBook Pro did something to me that I’ve never fully recovered from

This is not OLED related as Macs have never used OLED — perhaps you mean you have long term issues from LED backlight exposure, or from IPS LCD exposure

Clokwork

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs it might not just be the screen type but the hardware/software/drivers driving the panel too.

randomboolean

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs Ah, you're right, I missed that it was OLED specifically. Apologies! I wouldn’t be surprised if different screen tech affects people in different ways. With OLED, it’s just flickering/moving/changing patterns/etc. in different ways compared to IPS and it triggers people sensitive to different things than me. At the end of the day, if you're highly sensitive (unadaptably) to a certain tech or a specific hardware/software combo, and you push through for too long (like I did for 3 months), the damage can end up being permanent.

JTL

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs This is not OLED related as Macs have never used OLED

While not the main display, the Touch Bar was OLED with associated PWM related issues.

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs

randomboolean Yep, agreed, for me all of my most severe issues are caused by IPS LCD, especially if the software and OS combo is also problematic. In 2022, using an IPS MiniLED 2021 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro for too long left me with serious side effects where I felt unable to read and understand text, even outside of computer use. AKA, it almost got to the point of permanently affecting my ability to focus and move my eyes

Fortunately, I ditched that laptop before the issues became permanent, and managed to eventually recover from this after about 2 years of struggling, and now use much better screen setups that are good at both the hardware and software levels (as some may know from my other posts)

In my case, some OLEDs can get really strainy and uncomfortable at times, but it's never caused me issues as bad as IPS has, and for me, strain from OLED devices goes away relatively quickly after turning off the device (whereas IPS takes much longer for the negative symptoms to dissipate)

The best type of screen for me overall is TN (and certain variants of VA)

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs

JTL Yep, forgot to consider that! Although, they did mention 10 years ago, which was before the first Touch Bar Mac in 2016.

K-Moss

Going to go with either Edge 2024 or Samsung A06. Edge is one of the better OLED models while the A06 is a no-PWM PLS screen but with inferior hardware. Think I'll try the Edge and return it if it doesn't work. Is the A06 slow for basic usage?

JTL

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs Although,@ they did mention 10 years ago, which was before the first Touch Bar Mac in 2016.

Some people are a little loose with dates, but I remember that detail as well.

randomboolean

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs Oh, I didn’t realise it was actually your story about struggling to read and also using the Raspberry Pi. Thanks for sharing it! I actually had the same issue with reading print, and it’s still ongoing for me. I was curious, how did you manage to get back to reading print again? Was it purely from using a good setup that eventually allowed your eyes to heal, relax and return to a better state, or did you do any eye training or other treatments?

Also, if I remember correctly, you mentioned using a super old CCFL monitor and Raspberry Pi 1 setup. That actually inspired me to dig deeper and give it a try myself. I’ve managed to find a used Raspberry Pi 1, though I haven’t tested it yet. If the setup ends up being better than my current one, I’d like to stock up on more units. They’re long gone from retail, but I’ve found a few being sold as new. Looks like they’re just revision versions, like the Model B+, of the original.

Have you tested those revision models at all? From what I’ve found, they seem to have the same GPU and CPU as the original, and they all seem to support the legacy driver.

Also, are you still using your old monitors or have you been able to find any completely new or newer models that are fully comfortable?

Clokwork

From here on out, I don't think its the panel that's going to be the factoring decision. Since a GPU can force any sort of display to use temporal dithering wether it supports it or not, we are going to be at the mercy of the drivers essentially I believe. I can't think of any middle device that can remove the temporal dithering but I would love to be proven wrong.

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs

randomboolean Was it purely from using a good setup that eventually allowed your eyes to heal, relax and return to a better state

Yes. After I settled on setups that work great for me, my reading ability, even outside of screens, started to noticeably and gradually improve over time. Now, after around six months to a year of generally only using good screens for the majority of each day, my vision and reading ability is ENTIRELY back to normal which I'm so thrilled about!

I tried vision therapy a while ago and it didn't work for me. Using good screens is what finally began to re-train my eyes.

Also, this included ditching IPS screens entirely (which I've found have the worst negative effect on reducing overall focusing ability over time) and switching to TN and ASV-VA (in addition to safe hardware connected such as the Pi 1B)

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs

randomboolean Also, are you still using your old monitors or have you been able to find any completely new or newer models that are fully comfortable?

my primary screens

I'm still using Sharp LC-G5C26U (26" ASV-VA LCD monitor with CCFL backlight from 2004) with a Pi 1B and VNC client for my monitor setup. I use the VNC client to wirelessly access any computer I need to — all computers are safe when rendered through the Pi 1B's HDMI output.

I'm also still using AUO B140XTN02.D (14" TN LCD panel with a significantly above-average quality LED backlight from 2020) with a Lenovo T480 and VERY specific software setup (I can elaborate in DMs) that manages to keep the laptop in the basic video state that the BIOS setup menu uses, for my VNC thin client "semi-portable" setup.

However, I can only use the above laptop with my custom software setup, attempting to boot into Windows 10 or 11 instead makes the panel uncomfortable. With my custom setup, though, I am able to consistently use my laptop setup on a daily basis for sometimes up to 11 hours straight with ZERO strain.

For my "ultraportable" setup when I cannot easily bring anything else with me, I use Lenovo ThinkBook Plus 4's e-ink screen, which works great as a self-contained fully "modern" device. (BTW, this is also my top and only pick for a "work laptop" where you cannot easily install any software.)

However, the extremely dim e-ink screen of the ThinkBook Plus 4 (and the bad quality of the internal LED frontlight) makes the laptop only truly usable outdoors or in perfect lighting. For indoor use, it is still usable but not ideal — when I am indoors, I actually prefer my other above setups.

For my phone, I have fully switched to a Minimal Phone MP01 (Android 14 e-paper phone) which is amazing for my eyes.

Finally, I have a comfortable high-HZ CRT setup that also works great, which I use occasionally.

current experience with modern screens

For modern screens, modern IPS still doesn't work for me at ALL — however, I can tolerate a few OLEDs, but only for 1 hour max (i.e. usable but cannot be my "main" devices).

Some of these "usable, but not perfect" OLEDs are:

iPhone 14 Pro with iOS 16.4.1, 60fps mode, and Double Invert to disable HDR + low power mode (very important)

Thinkbook Plus Gen 4's OLED screen (2.8K Samsung AMOLED) with Windows 11 22H2, max brightness, and Microsoft Basic Display Adapter (important, using the Intel driver makes it strainy) — surprisingly usable. Windows OS composition layer rendering issues seem to not affect OLED in the same way they affect LCDs, which means this screen is actually pretty decent for an hour or two of use with pretty good text readability, as long as Microsoft Basic Display Adapter is being used.

Finally, I can enjoy shows on a LG WOLED 4K TV with all processing settings disabled, HDR disabled, 4:4:4 passthrough enabled, and a PS5 connected (important, connecting an Apple TV 4K instead instantly makes the TV unusable). Latest PS5 software still works decently with this TV today as of July 2025.

Clokwork

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs I too use a PS5 for media with personalized color and display settings. I will not use an Apple TV either.

randomboolean

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs Thanks for the detailed reply! I’ve sent you a private message couple of days ago about your specific laptop setup ("Lenovo T480 and VERY specific software setup (I can elaborate in DMs)") – let me know if it came through. Appreciate it!

bluetail

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs I thought same about IPS.
U can try LG-Master Gold Phoenix GB2590HSU-B5 24.5 Inch.
This IPS does work for me.