Hi! I'd like to share my success story of finding and fixing the root cause of my eye strain from digital displays.
My history with LED eye strain began about 15+ years ago when I first noticed it with my new MSI laptop (Windows). At that time, I solved the issue by selling that laptop and switching to another one that didn't cause problems.
The second occurrence was in 2021 with my first iPhone—an iPhone 12. I resolved this by switching to a OnePlus 8T, which didn't cause any issues.
The third time was in 2024 with a Lenovo ThinkPad 14s and new iPhone 16 Pro Max.
I used various measurement devices—flicker meters, luxmeters, microscopes, and others—to identify "bad" and "good" displays. Surprisingly, I discovered I could tolerate many "bad" devices with high PWM but couldn't use many "good" devices with low PWM.
I found that numerous hardware and software factors could affect display performance. Sometimes, a "good" display would become "bad" simply due to a software update.
My technical sensitivity appears to be related to temporal dithering, which depends on both hardware (8bit + FRC) and software (OS and drivers).
Many people on this forum experience strain from various sources: TVs, monitors, phones, light bulbs, car displays, projectors, and cinema screens.
I disagree with approaches like https://ledstrain.org/d/2589-products-to-try-or-avoid-pwm-flicker-and-temporal-dithering-testing. While elegant, these solutions address what I believe is a misidentified problem. Most people don't have issues with LED displays, and those affected are a small minority. This suggests the root cause lies in individual health factors rather than technology.
With constant technological progress and regular device updates, it's impossible to stick with the same phone, monitor, laptop, or software version indefinitely.
Constantly avoiding "bad" devices and searching for "good" ones isn't a sustainable solution.
For my third encounter with eye strain, I decided to stop avoiding problematic devices and instead find the underlying health cause to develop tolerance for all devices.
I noticed that my eye strain from the same device wasn't constant—its severity would vary from "completely unusable" to "barely tolerable."
I conducted extensive research into possible causes of flickering light sensitivity and experimented to find the root health cause of my eye strain.
However, none of my experiments or interventions produced lasting results.
The breakthrough came when I found this study:
IOP reduction in a third of patients with OHT improved flicker sensitivity, however no improvement was observed in glaucoma patients
I tried Latanoprost eye drops for a month, and by day two, I experienced no issues with devices that previously caused problems (with no other lifestyle or medication changes). When I stopped using Latanoprost, the eye strain from my iPhone 16 returned.
Interestingly, while I don't have diagnosed glaucoma and my intraocular pressure is "normal," reducing IOP proved to be the main solution for my flickering sensitivity.
In my case, the main factors that increase IOP and cause flickering sensitivity are:
bad posture (text neck) and cervical instability → neck muscles strain →increase in IOP
caffeine (coffee) overuse → increase IOP + neck muscles strain + dehydration → double increase in IOP
workload stress → neck muscles strain → increase in IOP
Currently, I'm addressing these causes of increased IOP and seeing noticeable, sustainable improvement.
Hope my story helps someone. Good luck.
