Hello everyone! My name is Artur, and I used to be an active member of ledstrain.org. In the past, I faced significant challenges with my eyes due to prolonged exposure to modern screens—laptops, monitors, smartphones, and the like. This was detrimental to me and my life
For more details about the problems I encountered, you can read: Update from Win11 21H2 to Win11 22H2 leads to eye strain and Temporal dithering is not the only one software eyestrain trigger.
If you've read my story My success story about one eye patching after 10 years of suffering, I win! you'll know that after a decade of battling, I found success through eye patching. Though it wasn't an easy journey, involving several attempts, I emerged victorious.
Now, it's been around nine months since I overcame my health issue, and I want to share some observations and offer bits of advice.
Whenever I acquire a new device or operating system, I initially experience the same eye problems and symptoms as before. However, I only need 2-3 weeks to adjust to the new conditions and comfortably use both eyes. If I choose to use a new device immediately, I can manage it with one eye patched (the adaptation period is about 1-2 days, during which I might experience some eyestrain and headaches, albeit not as severe as with both eyes). Over the last nine months, I trained my eyes using various versions of Windows, Ubuntu KDE, MacOS on MacBook Air 2023, and two different Android smartphones. I often used patching to watch TV in a hotel or enjoy movies on a projector when visiting friends.
Presently, I consider myself a healthy individual in terms of my eyesight. I confidently use all modern devices without fearing job changes or acquiring new TVs, smartphones, or laptops. It's a fantastic feeling. I hope anyone who has faced similar eyestrain problems can comprehend the significance of this achievement.
An essential point: once I've managed to use a screen with both eyes, the positive effect lasts forever. To date, I haven't encountered a situation where a device became problematic for my eyes again(after a course of patching). This is very reassuring!
However, there are no discovered methods to kill eyestrain apart from patching. Despite reading numerous topics on this and other forums, I haven't found any other viable solutions. Here are some pieces of advice and observations on things that DON'T WORK and AREN'T WORTH your time:
- Seeking a magical device that's perfect for your eyes. There's an infinite number of requests seeking recommendations for eye-safe devices. I understand the desire to find this magical solution, but unfortunately, reality doesn't operate that way. There's no modern device that will suit everyone's needs. You won't find a solution this way, no matter how many requests you make for reviews about the latest Android version or the newest MacBook model. It's a sad truth.
- Relying on doctors for help. There aren't many individuals who experience our problems. Have you ever met someone with a similar issue in real life, not just online? I haven't. Therefore, there's little hope that the medical or scientific community will address our problem and conduct investigations, as we are an insignificant minority to them. I spent considerable time and money on optometrists but received nothing substantial apart from advice like "Avoid excessive TV watching and take frequent breaks." I'm frustrated with them.
- Believing that large companies like Apple, Microsoft, or Google will intend to assist you. They face the same issue as the previous point. I reached out to the support teams of every company I know and most ignored my concerns. The few who responded provided generic, unhelpful replies, showing no interest in my problem at all.
- Searching for the cause of technology. Many people believe they know the cause of their problem(they usually mention temporal dithering, PWM, etc.). However, after experimenting with various settings and using devices from the same production batch, I haven't made any significant discoveries. I tried a lot of tweaks, advanced system settings, alternative drivers, tuning GPU with bios, etc. Several individuals conducted in-depth investigations but yielded no results. In my opinion, discovering the true reason would require a considerable investment of time and money. Unfortunately, no one will make that investment.
The primary reason for writing this article is to show that many guys have traversed their path and overcome eyestrain problems to return to normal life, thanks to patching. If you haven't succeeded previously, I strongly recommend giving it another try. Ultimately, you have nothing to lose (except a few days of headaches), and if successful, you can attain a brand new level of life.
Happy New Year to everybody, I hope my article will help to motivate somebody and these attempts will lead you to a happy and healthy life!