Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with eyestrain

Should I see an opthamologist or an optometrist?

desjardins — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:00:23 -0800

Probably need my first pair of glasses. Haven't had my eyes checked in years. Should I see an opthamologist or an optometrist? My vision is not what it used to be. I look at a computer all day and I'm starting to get eyestrain. Night driving is also more difficult. Should I see an opthamologist just because I haven't had a checkup in awhile? Or is that overkill?

What fun stuff should I know about getting my first pair of glasses? (I'm sure I don't want contacts.)

I'm 35, no known health conditions that would affect vision. I have health/vision insurance.

My eyes hurt.

srrh — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:24:21 -0800

My eyes have ached for the past week. What's going on? FIRST OF ALL: Unless the general consensus is that I am going to either die or go blind, I will not be going to a doctor until November 1st. I just got married, and due to some shuffling around of insurances, I will not have any coverage until then.

With that out of the way, here's what's going on. I have always been quite nearsighted, and I wear glasses for driving, TV watching, video game playing, or any activity where I need to see further than 5 or 6 feet. My vision up close is fine. Nothing has changed with regards to my vision.

I work in an office environment, with shifts that vary between 8 and 12 hours. I spend most of that time looking at computer screens, though not all of it, because I do fulfillment and inventory work in our warehouse during my downtime. All of my past jobs have been computer jobs, and I've spent lots of time playing on computers and video games as a kid, and never experienced any type of eye strain.

So, last week on the end of my 1st 12 hour shift (I have 2 8 hours and then 2 12 hours), I noticed my eyes really aching, especially if I looked at anything close-ish (within 5 feet or so). The pain was still there, but very dulled, if I looked far away. When I went to sleep that day, it took me hours to drift off, because the pain in my eyes was so bad. It felt as if they were constantly focusing and refocusing. It was distracting and extremely painful.

When I woke up that night, the pain was the same, or maybe even worse. Looking at anything within 5 feet of my face was almost excruciating. However, my drive to work that night was very relaxing for my eyes, and they felt somewhat better after getting to work. I researched eyestrain and read about an exercise where you focus on something near, far, near, far, near, far, then slowly blink a few times. It seemed to relieve the pain quite a lot, though not totally. Maybe down to 20% what it originally was.

Since then, the pain has been intermittent. It has not gotten back up to the terrible flare it was originally. At most, it has been about half as bad, and sometimes it's no problem at all. It doesn't seem to matter if I'm in a bright room or dark room, whether I'm looking at a screen or something else. The pain is still at its worst if I look at something within 5 feet or so, but it can be somewhat mitigated (though not totally) if I wear my glasses at all times, rather than just for distance viewing.

Apart from my eyes aching, my face is very sore because I seem to be constantly squinting. When I notice myself squinting, and relax my face, the eye pain comes back worse. This does not change whether my glasses are on or off, or if I'm looking near or far. Also, the pain is equal in both of my eyes, and, again, there have been no changes whatsoever in my vision.

WHEW. I think I've covered all my bases here, but if there's any other relevant information I should add, please let me know. What do you guys think? If it's just eyestrain, is there anything I can do to permanently relieve it? If it might be something more serious, is there anything I can at least do to lessen the pain until November?

Thanks so much for any help you can provide.

Tired eyes, constantly. Any ideas why?

humblepigeon — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 09:56:07 -0800

Constantly tired eyes. Why? I can wake up in the morning and maybe 30 minutes later have tired eyes. This can last all day. My eyes will force themselves closed frequently.

It can happen in my left or right eye (or both). My right eye is affected most and at night I sometimes put my hand over it to enable to me to read in comfort.

Some days I have it. Other days not.

Some important facts: These are NOT dry eyes, or itchy eyes, or scratchy eyes. In fact, more often than not there are tears in my eyes. It literally feels like tired eyes. Imagine how it feels at the end of a long day. IT's just like that. Except it can kick-in 30 minutes after waking from a good night's sleep.

I went to the doctor and he tested for thyroid trouble, and even myasthenia gravis, and some other stuff (they took about five vials of blood!). Everything came back OK. He's discharged me but I intend to go back and argue my case. In the meantime, any help would be useful.

It should be said that I have rather googly eyes (hence the test for thyroid issues). This might have become more pronounced over recent years, but has always kinda been there. Additionally, my right eyebrow droops a little compared to my left, but this also comes and goes, and has been there for years.

3D movies -- are they survivable now?

felix — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:13:14 -0800

Is the theatrical 3D film experience (e.g. 'Monsters vs. Aliens') much better than it used to be? Eyestrain, headaches, nausea used to be what you suffered through in the old red-blue glasses days in order to say you saw a 3D movie...has that gotten good enough now that it's safe to take, e.g., a 7 year old boy to these things?

What color text on what color background maximizes screen readability while minimizing eyestrain?

Joe Beese — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:26:37 -0800

What color text on what color background maximizes screen readability while minimizing eyestrain? I've probably seen a dozen different answers to this question. The green-on-yellow suggested by this study seems like an especially poor choice.

Why am I having pressure in part of my face?

Post-it Goat — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:29:00 -0800

Why do I have a constant feeling of pressure on one part of my face? For months or even a year I have felt an almost constant feeling of pressure on the left side of my face around my cheek. It's sort of like I'm always squinting just a little bit and I can't stop doing it, like the muscle won't un-clench or something. Possible explanations I have thought of:

- I grind my teeth at night. The dentist has said there could be nerve damage due to pushing a tooth upwards into a nerve. But steady use of a night guard hasn't done much to help.

- I nearly always sleep on my side with the part of my face that has the problem pushed against the pillow. Would that do it?

- My contacts might be the wrong prescription? I get pretty bad eye strain when I look at a monitor too much but otherwise I don't have problems.

- Sometimes I am stressed out in general. Who isn't?

Anybody else having this? It's annoying!

My computer is breaking my eyes.

hellboundforcheddar — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:58:22 -0800

Need advice on computer vision syndrome and "eye-teaming" problems, and computer glasses recommendations... My vision has been slowly deteriorating over the past few years and I think it's from eye strain directly related to my work (computer, spreadsheets, 50 hrs a week) . I don't experience blurriness in either eye over long or short distances, but the two no longer work together well to produce a crisp image- there's this ghosting, shimmery effect that makes me nauseous, head-achey, and interferes with depth perception. From what I've read, this seems to be one of the symptoms (convergence insufficiency) of "computer vision syndrome" which I gather is typified by whole suite of eye problems resulting from computer use.

I have my first vision therapy appt next week and it's very expensive so I'd like to get the most out of it.

What evaluations should I make sure to ask for?

If you have had similar problems, what has worked for you- particulary if you've suffered with convergence insufficiency...

And, I need computer glasses recommendations, if possible.

thanks.

Custom client-side CSS to change background colours.

pompomtom — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:38:44 -0800

CSS, greasemonkey, sunglasses? Is there a way to stop white web pages hurting my eyes (firefox, osx). Even on the lowest brightness setting, I find, of an evening, that white-backgrounded web pages are too bright on my macbook. I suspect there's some way for me to have a local CSS file or something that I can turn on and off at will, to just swap white backgrounds for a more muted grey. Or something. Everything I see on google seems to be about blogs, but I want this on the client side. I suppose there could also be a greasemonkey way to do this, but greasemonkey scares me more than CSS. Corey Hart scares me more than both.

So, in question form: what is the simplest way to have a switchable setting to darken white backgrounds? (and/or: is there a good client-side CSS tutorial site which could teach me to work this out myself?)

Eye strain or not?

deeper red — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 07:34:20 -0800

If it's not eye strain then what is it? My left or right eye frequently wants to shut, especially when I'm looking at something I'm also concentrating on. Sometimes it literally forces itself shut and I'm powerless to stop it and I'm left with a scrunched up eye. Sometimes it feels a little like it's weeping, but no tears come. My eyes rarely hurt, or feel dry.

I've mentioned this to two different opticians, both of whom said it was eye strain. I wear glasses for very slight short-sightedness and astigmatism. I spend literally all day reading, either from the page or a computer.

I'm not sure if it's eye strain or not. It can start just 30 minutes after I get out of bed, so my eyes aren't even tired. I have yet to find a cure that works and I've tried blinking, eye drops, an eye bath, putting palms over my eye sockets... The only thing that brings relief is to shut my eyes for a few moments. A cloth with cold wet water feels good but doesn't help for more than a few minutes.

Is this eye strain? If not, what is it? If it is, are there any sure-fire relief methods I can employ?

Invert the colors on my PC?

electric_counterpoint — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 05:37:46 -0800

How to invert the colors on my PC laptop? Plus, what else do you recommend to reduce eye-strain that leads to headaches? I get migraines every once in a while, especially when I've been doing a lot (and for me, that's a LOT) of computer stuff over a few days. When I've got one, I'm really light-sensitive, and feeling better usually demands some medicine and an hour or so in a dark, silent room.

When the main part of the headache has passed, though, I often need to get back online (usually, to finish whatever project had kept me on the computer so much recently). To avoid the little twinges of pain and head off the possibility of a relapse, it would be *awesome* to invert my PC's colors.

I know OSX can do this natively, with Ctrl-Option-Cmd-8 (try it!). But PCs don't have this ability, and I can't find any share- or freeware to do it, either.

Is there anything else you'd recommend to reduce eye strain? I'm using Work Rave right now, and have been for about a month, but I find myself postponing breaks and shutting it off every time I reach my daily limit.

My eyes are tired!

northernsoul — Tue, 23 May 2006 17:09:44 -0800

I read a lot of text on screen (on a CRT) at work. Is there anything available to minimize eyestrain while doing it? (something like Tofu, but for Windows) Suggestions for settings are also welcome.

Why does bad sleep cause eyestrain?

blahtsk — Tue, 09 May 2006 22:18:06 -0800

When I don't sleep well, my eyes are sore all day. Why? What is it about not getting a good night's sleep that causes eye soreness? It's not a scratchy feeling either, it feels a lot like eyestrain. Can anything be done about it (besides sleeping better the following night)?

My eyes! My eyes!

jaded — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:03:28 -0800

My eyesight has always been great, and in general I see just fine. As a general rule, the world is not blurry and when I look at something, whether it be 1 foot or 20 (or 100) feet away, I see what I expect to see. I've never worn glasses. But lately, I've encountered three annoying types of...issues.

1. Night driving drives me batty. It's not that I can't see, which I can, but light glare really bugs my eyes and if I drive in the city for too long, I get a massive headache. Busy and poorly lit highways (which are the norm in Massachusetts) are the most frustrating.

2. If I watch a long movie (say 2 or more hours) in a dark room, once the movie is over (be it TV or theater) and the lights come on, there is a short period when my vision is wrong. Visually everything seems quite dreamlike and focusing on specific things is hard. It's like my perception of perspective gets all screwed up. A few minutes and couple of head shakes makes it go away.

3. And here is what precipitated this question: If try to focus on something tiny that is close to my face it hurts. I noticed this today at work while looking at some bug reports which were printed in very small text (in a meeting - normally I read them on a screen). The text was too small and close together to read in a couple of spots, so I picked up the sheet to better focus on the text which resulted in eyeball pain and nausea.

Point three is the one that causes me the greatest concern. In the last couple of weeks, it's happened enough times that I'm starting to wonder what it is, but if I think back, the problem seems to have started a while ago (months at least), but today it was so bad that I actually had to stop what I was doing for a minute.

Points one and two have never particularly concerned me because I have chronic migraines and generally associate light sensitivity and strange visual behaviour to them.

The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is eye strain.

So my questions are thus:

What do you think it is?

Or, if you think that it's eyestrain, then what can someone who needs to spend an awful lot of time reading either from a screen or paper do to mitigate it?

Good LCD monitor for reading?

callmejay — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 11:37:45 -0800

What should I look for in an LCD monitor primarily for programming and web-surfing? (i.e. reading text.) I don't care about gaming and although I'd like it to display images decently, I'm not going to be doing serious photography or anything with it. Do some monitors have exceptionally good (crisp and easy on the eyes) text?

I generally prefer to use big resolutions so the text is bigger. (I currently have a 19" CRT, 17.5" viewable that I use at 800x600.) I use the computer all-the-livelong-day. Probably don't want to spend more than about 500$ unless there's something truly exceptional.

Related: I live in an old house with dodgy power. Will this be bad for my LCD? Sometimes my CRT flickers.

Lightbulbs they use in bookstores?

Quami77 — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 04:06:16 -0800

Why is it that one can go into the library or a bookstore (Borders/B&N) and read for several hours without getting tired or distracted? And yet reading at home for half an hour can be a chore because your eyes get tired, or you fall asleep? Is "Full spectrum" lighting the answer? I've read a little bit about full spectrum lighting and natural spectrum lighting. Nowhere does it say what the difference between the two are, or if there is any difference. In conducting these searches, there seem to be many claims that full spectrum lighting is extremely effective, but have not seen many user reviews or opinions.

I notice in the bookstore or library they just have standard recessed lighting, but when the light shines on a book it seems to be clearer than with using a halogen desk lamp.

Can you get these kinds of bulbs for standard recessed fixtures or lamps? If so, which companies make them and are they available in a regular store? Thanks!

needed: computer settings to minimize eyestrain

mirileh — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 02:36:54 -0800

healthiest monitor settings: how should I set my computer's display settings to minimize eyestrain? I just migrated from my old and beloved, but now defunct, 15" CRT monitor to a 17" CRT monitor. this also switches me from 800*600 pixel resolution to 1024*768 pixel (BTW I'm on XP Pro OS).

sure, now I scroll less and actually see pictures and sites as intended but I feel the change is driving my eyes nuts (they feel very very strained). what can I do to lessen the eyestrain? please give me all the technical stuff - resolution, refresh rate, display settings - the works!

Too Old for Videogames?

ascullion — Wed, 17 Nov 2004 09:05:51 -0800

Does anyone else find that their head likes playing computer games, but their body doesn't? (MI) When i was younger, I played games all the time, but stopped at about the age of 16. I was playing Quake, or somesuch, when my eyes got really sore, and I started to feel really queasy.

I gave up games shortly after that. But, I recently bought a new PC, and had a voucher for a (legitimate) free copy of Half Life 2, so I started playing that to see what I was missing. And sure enough, the old problem reared it's head again.

At about the age I started having these problems, I got glasses for the first time. Don't know if these things are connected. If anyone has any tips for overcoming this, I'd appreciated it.