Hi everyone, this is a long story so please bear with me. I've been using a PC since 2002 and in the last 5-6 years I've spent around 8-12 hours a day in front of a screen for work and personal use but never had issues with my vision. More than that back in 2019 I went to the doctor and had 110% vision. All good until I decided to replace my old monitor, in march I picked up a Samsung IPS 24" 75Hz monitor and at the begging it wasn't that bad, the only issue I had with it was the pixel size which made the text a bit pixelated. After a while I started having eyestrain and headaches, looked like the glow from the screen was bothering me, had the feeling something is on my eyes, light spots and so on. I decided to return it to the store and tried another one which came with dead pixels and the second day it went back. I then picked an AOC C24G2 75 Hz IPS monitor on which I had the same eyestrain and headaches but the text seemed really smudged/blury and the eyestrain was even worst, so I returned that one too. I then tried a VA panel, a Redragon Mirror VA 144Hz panel which had low pixel density and the most annoying thing ghosting and really bad motion blur so send it back. I picked a DELL SE2417HGX and I noticed an improvement, the eyestrain was not that bad and no more headaches but as you might have guessed it, that wasn't perfect either being a TN panel. When looking directly at it, the center had different brightness than the sides, more noticeable when comparing the bottom side with the top side. Also, the colors are horrible and the black was grayish which bothers me since I use the monitor at work as well (8-10 hours with a lot of text on screen). All in all the brightness difference was annoying after a few hours of use so I decided to return it and also to get myself to the doctor and apparently my vision dropped really bad and I was prescribed to get glasses, which I did. I've been wearing them for 3 days and they are hell on earth tbh, it would require quite some time to get used to them. After this I decided to give IPS another go and got the ASUS VA24DQ which was promoted with "Eye Care" and Flicker Free and indeed I noticed a slight improvement but that specific monitor had a weird shadow on the left side of the screen which I was afraid to get worst so I decided to get another one, the exact same model, from the exact same store and use the exact same settings as on the previous one. Guess what, it was a totally different monitor, the colors are greenish, the white is cooler, the screen is way brighter and the eyestrain and headaches are back. You can even notice that the protective film of the screen is brighter when the monitor is turned off.

Now I'm desperate, this affects my quality of life and gives me frustration beyond belief. I'm now wearing glasses and still don't know what monitor to pick so I don't mess my eyes even more. Please Help!

The first question I'd ask is what monitors were you comfortable with in the past?

9 days later

Sorry for the late reply, I'm still struggling with finding a solution. Using glasses has affected me even more...soon to check in with the eye doctor to figure out why.
The previous monitors were some old 22" 16:10 Dell monitors E series if I'm not mistaken, those are the ones I used the longest since I was working 8-9 hours per day and had no issues. I'm trying to get in touch with some of my colleagues to figure out the exact model.

Bought two days ago a LG 24GL650-B and gave me different sensations, eye strains and the constant feeling I have lazy eyes and no focus on the text. Same feeling was on all the available refresh rates, from 60 to 144. I returned it and I am now using my laptop screen a DELL Latitude 5410 with no issues, no eye strain, no headaches, wtf?

Ok, after using the Dell laptop screen for a couple hours I can say this gives me eyestrain as well...maybe not as bad as the bigger screens, but it's still there.
I also found out the model of the monitors I was using at work, for several years, Dell P2014H. From what I can see those are IPS LED backlight as well so I have no idea what's wrong...

    rotarski From what I can see those are IPS LED backlight as well so I have no idea what's wrong...

    This is the problem - there's just no pattern to any of this - well, beyond older stuff is better than most or all of the new stuff. It's utterly bewildering and agonisingly frustrating at the same time.

      I'm starting to wonder if the cables are to blame or maybe the wall outlets? Maybe they affect the display in some way that's not really visible with the eye but something happens behind? I'm just trowing this out there.

      Before all this pandemic thing I managed to change my job and I only used the office for 2 weeks, and I was given an HP e243i and was pretty decent, huge screen compared to what I was used to and had no eye strain in those two weeks. I've been working from home for almost 6 months now but I didn't want to pick a monitor from the office before but yesterday I had a talk with the IT guy, hopefully I can get one and see if that's better. I have to admit, I believe most of the monitors I recently tried were mainly gaming purposed monitors so maybe that's a factor?

      Two things. One is you probably don't need glasses. Your eyes are tired and strained, so you fail an eye test. Eye doctors are like most doctors, they don't give a shit so they just prescribe whatever the dial tells them to. That's why your glasses feel weird, they aren't actually fixing anything. They are sort of correcting for the fatigue in your eye, but that's not what glasses are suppose to do.

      Second, once your eyes get burned out and tired, almost any screen will bother you until you let them relax and heal.

      This is a big problem people run into. They get one monitor that is really bad, it causes severe eye fatigue, but then even a good monitor will cause eyestrain until the eyes can rest. So for anyone reading this, if you buy a monitor or laptop and it gives you problems, STOP USING IT! Wait a few days then try it again. If the problems come back, the monitor is NO GOOD for you and you should never look at it again. Trying to "get use" to it or adapt to it only makes your issue worse and will make finding a good setup harder.

        I was also thinking about that, I went to the doctor after I had the issues mentioned, after I tried 3 different monitors...maybe my eyes were so exhausted that I failed the test...I returned every monitor and I'm now using my laptop screen. I'm trying to limit the use of a screen for a couple of days maybe I can heal my vision a bit. The worst part is that I have to work...and also spent a lot of money to have my glasses made.

        screenjunky Eye doctors are like most doctors, they don't give a shit so they just prescribe whatever the dial tells them to.

        Same experience here. I bought glasses which did nothing. I went back to the optometrist and he recommended a second pair of lenses. Again, they were not a solution to my peculiar problems. I spent USD 600.
        I went to a second ophthalmologist who found I eventually need a smaller correction that what I was given, but in his opinion it is so insignificant that I would most likely waste other money. He honestly admitted he has no clue why I have the issues I reported and especially he does not get why they show up only with certain electronic devices and not with others or on paper.

          15 days later

          Thank you for your input @AGI
          I haven't gone to the optometrist again as I decided to take a little break and I'm only using my laptop screen for a couple of days. This still gives me slight eyestrain tbh but it doesn't feel as bad as before.

          Something is not going well and I have no idea how to fix this...

            3 years later

            Hello rotarski

            I have same problem like you. I am also seeking solution but i could not find proper solution. So how did you end up your issue? Have you found good monitor which is comfortable for vision?

              dev