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Ask HN: Do your eyes bug you even though your prescription is "correct"?

340 points jbornhorst | 2 comments | 07 Mar 25 17:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.551s | source

I’m digging into an idea around eyeglasses, screen-time, and vision discomfort. If you wear prescription glasses but still get headaches, eye strain, or blurry vision after long screen days, I’d love to chat briefly (20–30 min).

Pure research, zero selling.

Interested? Drop a comment below or email me directly at jbornhorst [at] gmail.com. I’ll coordinate a convenient time to talk.

1. neogodless ◴[08 Mar 25 03:13 UTC] No.43297162[source]▶
Tons of responses so I don't know if you'll read this but a few things:

Post-concussion syndrome (and screens)

After getting a concussion, I had to change my screens in a big way. Many people have heard of sensitivity to PWM and low frequency PWM in particular. The alternative is DC dimming, and it helps tremendously. Additionally, higher refresh rates seem to help. At least 120 Hz but preferably 144, 165 or higher. My phone has some complicated PWM / DC dimming settings[0] - possibly 120 / 360 Hz[1]. My laptop is 165 Hz and does not appear to use PWM[2]. My desktop screens are 144 Hz and have DC dimming.

I'm going through the hassle of getting a physician to sign off on an ADA request to get my current employer to allow me to use better screens at work, as they provided a laptop with a horrible 60 Hz screen, and two crappy 60 Hz monitors. Fortunately I'm only in the office twice a week.

Glasses

Last year, I got brand new glasses with the prescription determined by the optometrist. However, it took three tries of adjusting things like pupil measurements and the "base curve" or index of the glasses before I started to get used to them. Up until then, I felt very tired and brain foggy while wearing them. With the third revision and a week of adjustment, I finally started to settle in. It takes a really good eye doctor to figure out these kinds of issues, and be willing to swap out lenses for you.

[0] https://www.eyephonereview.com/post/oneplus-12-its-complicat...

[1] https://www.notebookcheck.net/OnePlus-12-5G-Smartphone-Revie... (120 Hz PWM)

[2] https://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Nitro-16-AN16-41-review-A...

replies(1): >>43297685 #
2. notfed ◴[08 Mar 25 05:17 UTC] No.43297685[source]▶
PWM is a real concern that impacts, say, 10% of the population, and probably only 0.1% are aware of it. It's been a growing, silent epidemic due to a very clear culprit: OLED screens, particularly on cell phones.

Phone manufacturers know that OLED screens cause eye strain, and they've tried to mitigate it, but it's still sort of an unsolved problem that phone manufacturers haven't prioritized. For the most part, they tend to prioritize making the problem worse over time.

A quick intro to the topic: https://flickeralliance.org/pages/about-flicker

Personally, I am grateful to have an LCD laptop (the MacBook M2 Air's screen is a godsend), and I hope more people would recognize OLED PWM as the source of their eyes strain and complain about it, so that manufacturers change their priorities.