Struggling to find a new monitor that doesn't cause pain

JTL L455-S5009

I decided to do an experiment last night comparing all the monitors I own. First comparison was between the Acer V227Q (IPS) and BenQ GW2280 (VA). The Acer had darker blacks and richer colors while the BenQ had a barely noticeable washed out look.

I then compared the Acer to my old IPS Dell E173FPf. It turned on luckily and I was able to see that the monitor's brightness was extremely dim compared to the Acer. The Dell was at 80% and to match that brightness, the Acer had to go down to 20%. I guess because the Dell is so old, the brightness just gradually got that dim.

I thought I might've solved the issue, so I used the Acer for an extended period at 20% brightness. Unfortunately, I still experienced dry eyes, lightheadedness and slight pain in the forehead. It's like I'm allergic to something in these monitors.

So far, the monitor that causes the least discomfort is the Asus V228HE. It's a TN, which means the image quality and color reproduction are quite poor. (On a side note, my Toshiba laptop has better colors and picture quality than the Asus) I can tolerate the Asus the longest. There's still some discomfort, but it's more manageable.

Not sure where to go from at this point unfortunately.

__528491__ I'm starting to believe I'm extra sensitive to all forms of light. There's been a few situations in the past that leads me to believe this. I was at a fair in 2014, sitting under a tent, the weather was sunny and bright. After about an hour or two, I started to feel nauseous and pressure in my forehead. It got so bad I had to borrow a friend's sunglasses to make it through the day. I always wear sunglasses outside and in the car now because of that experience.

There's was also a moment in 2015 when I was hired for temp work. I was working on someone else's laptop using Excel. I started to feel that same nauseating, lightheaded sensation the year before. I ended up having to turn the laptop's screen brightness down to zero and my symptoms went away.

I thought I was just sensitive to UV light, blue light and PWM, but now it seems I'm just sensitive to light in general. It's honestly kind of devastating, because I won't be able to enjoy new display technologies to their fullest. I can turn down the brightness, but it'll crush the image quality. I've noticed that messing with all these different monitors.

The fact that monitors have gotten significantly larger over the years isn't helping either. Instead of looking at a white screen that's only 15 to 17 inches large like I'm use to, I'm now looking at a small 22 inch LED sized TV. It's honestly amazing how people can sit in front of a 32 inch monitor and tolerate all that light.

Out of curiosity, I decided to buy a lux meter and test out my various displays. I used a white screen image and kept the displays to the settings I normally keep them at. I then turned out the lights, put the meter up to the screen and took multiple readings. Here's what I found:

Toshiba Satellite laptop - 50% brightness:
36 lx

Samsung 32" smart TV - 80% backlight, 50% brightness and 50% contrast
54 lx

Acer V227Q bip - 40% brightness and 50% contrast
134 lx

Dell E173FPf - 80% brightness
87 lx

Obviously, my laptop is the dimmest out of all. My Samsung is surprisingly dim and unsurprisingly, the Acer is the brightest. My old Dell comes in third by comparison.

I also bought a Sceptre E205W-16003R 19.5 inch monitor to try out. I figured a slightly smaller monitor might be easier on the eyes. The monitor was insanely bright with its default settings. I had to turn the backlight brightness down to 0%. Unfortunately, it still read 117 lux with my meter and turning down the actual brightness setting crushed the color and image quality completely. The upside to the monitor is the text clarity is fantastic and doesn't strain my eyes to read.

First things first, you need ample sunshine exposure to get your vitamin D levels up and your thyroid functioning better. The thyroid is inhibited in many people from inadequate sun exposure as well as the fluorides that are prevalent through oral toothpastes and the industrial crap added to many public water supplies, which also ends up in many processed foods. Chlorine and bromides will also impede the thyroid.

First things first, get yourself a sun bed, go out in the full sun for 15 minutes with your eyes closed, no sunglasses, and go from there.

I appreciate the advice. I think I'm going to have to visit an ophthalmologist and see if they have any suggestions. It would be really fantastic if Asus, BenQ, or some other monitor company, had a monitor lineup for people with photophobia. Or at the very least, have a monitor setting that reduces brightness greatly, without crushing image quality