[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Do your eyes bug you even though your prescr...
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       Ask HN: Do your eyes bug you even though your prescription is
       "correct"?
        
       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.
        
       Author : jbornhorst
       Score  : 305 points
       Date   : 2025-03-07 17:09 UTC (1 days ago)
        
       | kccqzy wrote:
       | Not sure if 20-30 mins of discussion is necessary for my case,
       | but my case was simple. When the new prescription glasses
       | arrived, the nose pads are not properly adjusted, resulting in
       | the glasses sitting too high on my face. This means I'm looking
       | through the bottom portion of the lens. This makes things blurry
       | and causes headaches. Fortunately once the problem is noticed, it
       | takes one minute to fix.
        
         | rahimnathwani wrote:
         | I'm amazed at how often I see people with poorly adjusted
         | nosepads. In some cases I can see one or both pads not sitting
         | flush on the nose, but digging in at an angle.
        
           | BearOso wrote:
           | Or people with the temple bridges too short, so the ends
           | don't go over the ears.
        
       | rahimnathwani wrote:
       | If you're over 40 and have been wearing glasses for years, you
       | might now need a pair with a weaker prescription just for
       | computer use.
        
         | brandonmenc wrote:
         | Or progressives (aka bifocals.)
        
           | jbornhorst wrote:
           | +1 - computer glasses especially as presbyopia sets in
           | (around age 40) are surprisingly not well known. this has
           | been a huge help for me.
        
           | sgt wrote:
           | What about computer glasses?
        
           | rahimnathwani wrote:
           | I have progressives _and_ computer glasses.
           | 
           | If I accidentally wear the progressives at my desk, I usually
           | notice within half an hour that I'm not comfortable.
           | 
           | With the computer glasses, everything is clear (including my
           | laptop screen, which is below my monitor).
        
         | eej71 wrote:
         | I have a prescription for "office glasses" which have been
         | great.
        
         | tarentel wrote:
         | What's the reasoning behind being over 40? I recently
         | complained to my optometrist that I was having a harder time
         | seeing things up close and he prescribed me weaker lenses for
         | work/reading. My regular prescription is right around -7 in
         | both eyes. I'm not over 40.
        
           | jbornhorst wrote:
           | Presbyopia - the lens in our eyes begin to harden at age 40,
           | making it harder for our eye muscles to "squeeze" the lens to
           | focus. Presents itself as blurriness and eye strain. We
           | usually encounter a change in our Rx during this time too,
           | sometimes needing a weaker Rx (counterintuitively).
           | 
           | Would love to chat about your experience in any case. I'm at
           | jbornhorst [at] gmail.com if interested.
        
           | rahimnathwani wrote:
           | Most people get this after 40. Some people get it earlier.
           | 
           | Presbyopia: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-
           | conditions/presbyopia/sy...                 Presbyopia
           | usually becomes noticeable in your early to mid-40s and
           | continues to worsen until around age 65.
           | 
           | If you're much younger than 40, maybe google "early onset
           | presbyopia".
        
         | maayank wrote:
         | Not OP, but would like to try it. How much weaker? And should I
         | weaken the cylinder strength as well?
        
           | rahimnathwani wrote:
           | Don't trust random strangers on the internet!
           | 
           | You should ask a qualified or licensed optometrist or
           | optician or whatever it's called wherever you live.
           | 
           | AIUI:
           | 
           | - you don't adjust CYL
           | 
           | - The amount you add is roughly 0.75, plus an extra 0.05 for
           | each year above 40yo.
           | 
           | For example, at age 50:
           | 
           | Add = 0.75 + 0.05 x (50 - 40) = 0.75 + 0.5 = 1.25
           | 
           | So let's say that this person's regular glasses are -3.25 in
           | each eye. Their computer glasses would be -2.00 in each eye.
           | 
           | Don't trust random strangers on the internet!
        
             | bcrl wrote:
             | My optometrist set the adjustable lenses to what he thought
             | was in the right ballpark and then had me read the chart at
             | my requested distance for the computers lenses. A few
             | adjustments, and done. They're perfect! Bonus: text is a
             | bit bigger now, and I can read smaller fonts than I could
             | before getting computer glasses.
             | 
             | The downside of this is that I now find it very difficult
             | to read computer screens and my phone while wearing my
             | distance lenses. The practice of holding things further
             | away to be able to read them always was, I suppose,
             | inevitable.
        
       | Night_Thastus wrote:
       | I'm nearsighted with no astigmatism, so I have a simple -2/-2
       | prescription (if I remember correctly).
       | 
       | I sit at a screen 8-16 hours a day. I get strong headaches every
       | single day, for which I keep a supply of ibuprofen at work and
       | home. 400mg a day is generally plenty.
       | 
       | I do not wear my glasses while at the screen, as it's close
       | enough that I don't have any issues.
       | 
       | I suspect my headaches are neck muscle related, not eyesight, but
       | I haven't investigated further.
        
         | adityamwagh wrote:
         | How much water do you drink? How much are you sleeping? Is your
         | room dark when you sleep?
        
           | Night_Thastus wrote:
           | I get 7-8 hours of sleep, in a very dark and quiet room. No
           | loud neighbors, no room-mates.
           | 
           | I think my water intake is fine, but I don't have a specific
           | measurement.
        
             | vishalontheline wrote:
             | A good indication that you may be dehydrated is if your
             | eyes are burning after a few hours of work or partway
             | through a long drive.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | Hey, thanks for replying! I'd love to chat briefly. Can you
         | shoot me a quick email at jbornhorst [at] gmail [dot] com so we
         | can coordinate?
        
           | Night_Thastus wrote:
           | I'll send a message once I'm home from work, which could be a
           | couple hours.
        
         | radar1310 wrote:
         | Get your blood pressure checked just to be on the safe side.
         | Those headaches could be caused by other health issues. Taking
         | that much headache medication all the time is not good.
        
           | Night_Thastus wrote:
           | Does BP vary significantly throughout the day? Do I need to
           | be measuring it while at work, or will a simple visit to a
           | doctor be sufficient?
           | 
           | My last appointment was a couple of years ago, and I don't
           | believe they raised any issues about it then.
           | 
           | I'll see about an appointment.
        
         | jolmg wrote:
         | Taking pain meds daily for life doesn't seem like a good plan.
         | 
         | Maybe try e-ink? There are e-ink monitors on the market if that
         | works, if the problem's the light. You can also try software
         | like Redshift[1] for regular monitors.
         | 
         | If it's your neck, at least put some books under your monitor
         | stand, if you're not able to get better monitor mounts. Or
         | lower your chair. You should be looking straight ahead for your
         | monitor, so your neck muscles shouldn't have to do much work.
         | 
         | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redshift_(software)
        
           | lanstin wrote:
           | If it's posture related, here's more free advise: try sitting
           | on stools rather than on chairs with a back, and sit up
           | straight and keep your arms actively powered while typing
           | (not laying on a surface). Also, when you need to think for a
           | minute get up and walk around.
        
             | Night_Thastus wrote:
             | A stool without a back would be very uncomfortable, but I
             | do have ergonomic chairs (Herman Miller Aeron) which should
             | do a decent job from what I understand.
             | 
             | The rest I'll consider though, thanks.
        
               | lanstin wrote:
               | The point of sitting on a stool is that you have to use
               | your core strength to sit up straight, and using that
               | core strength reduces all sorts of pain in back and neck.
               | 
               | I didn't start doing that (sitting on stools) till I had
               | been meditating for a long time, so it wasn't that
               | different than sitting on the floor in half lotus
               | position, which I had extensive practice doing.
               | 
               | I've been doing it for >10 years now; I will confess that
               | when I have a meeting in a meeting room with proper
               | chairs, I do really enjoy the chair back. It's all about
               | using your body in a variety of ways.
        
           | Night_Thastus wrote:
           | E-ink isn't possible for either my work or home solutions. I
           | cannot replace any of the work monitors. I do use f.lux while
           | at home, though that only triggers later at night.
           | 
           | My monitor is at the appropriate height (eyes are roughly
           | even with top of the screen) and distance (about arms-
           | length), so I'm looking straight ahead.
        
           | bmurphy1976 wrote:
           | >Taking pain meds daily for life doesn't seem like a good
           | plan.
           | 
           | Definitely not a good plan, especially Ibuprofen. My mother
           | took Ibuprofen for years to manage her arthritis and that
           | absolutely wrecked her kidneys. Not to mention Ibuprofen can
           | also cause internal bleeding. It's a quick short term fix but
           | not a good long term solution.
        
             | OJFord wrote:
             | > especially ibuprofen [...] wrecked her kidneys
             | 
             | As opposed to what? It's all metabolised by something,
             | choose what you wreck. Take paracetamol routinely instead
             | and you'll wreck your liver instead.
        
               | user_7832 wrote:
               | IMO neither is good for chronic pain management.
               | Ibuprofen reduces blood flow to the kidneys which causes
               | (chronically) cell death. Weirdly paracetamol is bad for
               | the liver as you mention... unless you already have a bad
               | liver, in which case it's somehow the recommended pain
               | medicine? (For responses I've unfortunately forgotten).
               | 
               | It's much harder to address the root issue (speaking as
               | someone who's taken their fair share of pain meds
               | themselves), but it's infinitely better in the long term.
        
               | OJFord wrote:
               | Certainly didn't mean to suggest they are, especially not
               | without professional medical advice. (Not just to check
               | the dose or have a different one prescribed, but for a
               | PPI to protect stomach lining from taking a lot of
               | ibuprofen for example.) The non-prescription doses on the
               | packaging are suitable short-term, for a one-off headache
               | or to manage a fever, but continued use (a bad injury
               | meaning your taking it several days even) should be with
               | advice, that might differ.
        
               | winux-arch wrote:
               | Paracetamol is world standard for long chronic treatment.
               | It starts tu hurt your liver only on big dosis. Source:
               | FORTA List https://forta.umm.uni-heidelberg.de/
        
         | gms7777 wrote:
         | If you haven't already, you should look into some stretches for
         | tension headaches. For me at least, they don't make the
         | headache go away completely (because often dehydration is a
         | factor as well), but they sure take the edge off.
        
         | sgt wrote:
         | Are you using a laptop (looking downwards) or are you using a
         | proper screen setup?
        
           | Night_Thastus wrote:
           | Proper screen setup, most of the time a 27-inch screen at
           | about arms length.
        
           | Gee101 wrote:
           | This is a very important point. Staring down on a laptop
           | screen strains neck muscles but it feels like you are getting
           | headaches from your eyes.
           | 
           | Make sure your posture is correct when sitting in front of a
           | screen before attempting anything else.
        
         | dlandis wrote:
         | "I do not wear my glasses while at the screen, as it's close
         | enough that I don't have any issues."
         | 
         | This could be the problem, especially if you are close to 40
         | years old. You may be starting to develop presbyopia, which is
         | typical. In the early stages you can still read and focus on
         | closeup things fine, so you may not realize it is starting, but
         | in the background your eyes are, in fact, straining a lot and
         | causing headaches.
        
           | Night_Thastus wrote:
           | I'm not in my 40's, but I'll keep that in mind, thanks.
        
         | NikkiA wrote:
         | You're probably suffering rebound headaches at least most of
         | the time.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medication_overuse_headache
        
       | juped wrote:
       | I avoided glasses for years because no matter what, wearing them
       | would give me horrible headaches. Then one day I went to a higher
       | end optician, spent $1000, and have been comfortably using
       | glasses since.
       | 
       | So maybe more selling, less research?
        
         | _JamesA_ wrote:
         | What is a higher end optician and how do you find one?
        
           | literalAardvark wrote:
           | It's an optician that takes you to the cleaners in such a way
           | that you feel good about it afterwards.
        
           | gwbas1c wrote:
           | My guess is an ophthalmologist as opposed to an optician.
        
           | r_klancer wrote:
           | Can't speak for GP, but in my case it was an academic
           | optometry center. Life changing. See my longer toplevel
           | reply.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | Sounds like you've solved it, but I'd love to learn from your
         | experience. 20 min chat? Can you shoot me a quick email at
         | jbornhorst [at] gmail [dot] com so we can coordinate?
        
       | bmurphy1976 wrote:
       | Yes, I'm very nearsighted. I've worn progressive lenses for years
       | but they continue to drive me crazy. I can see fine with them,
       | but my eyes easily get fatigued and I have to take long breaks to
       | get them to calm down.
       | 
       | Over the summer I added a pair of progressive occupational lenses
       | (not reading glasses). They are focused arms length in front of
       | me. This has been a complete game changer. I can now see my
       | monitor crisply, clearly, and easily in a way that I haven't seen
       | it in a decade.
       | 
       | When I swap back and forth between my regular lenses and my
       | occupational lenses, the difference is stark. With my regular
       | lenses there's a part of the screen that's about a half dollar
       | coin in size that's clear and in focus. The rest of the screen is
       | every so slightly blurry. I have to move my head to constantly
       | adjust the focal point, or move my eyes and struggle to focus.
       | 
       | When I switch to my occupational lenses, the _entire screen_ is
       | clear. I don 't have to move my head. I don't have to fight to
       | focus. Where I look, it's crisp.
       | 
       | No wonder I was struggling! I was fighting to focus all day long.
       | I suffer from almost no eye fatigue now. If my eyes are tired,
       | it's usually because I'm tired and it's been a long day.
       | 
       | The downside is I now have to juggle two pairs of glasses instead
       | of one, but that's oh so totally been worth it. I'm not going
       | back.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | Hey, thanks for replying! I'd love to chat briefly. Can you
         | shoot me a quick email at jbornhorst [at] gmail [dot] com so we
         | can coordinate?
        
         | theogravity wrote:
         | Same, I have occupational lenses that are also focused to arms
         | length, and it has made a huge difference for me as well when
         | using it for reading things on my computer screens. It makes
         | reading small text easier and feels crisp.
         | 
         | Using it outside of its intended distance will cause eye strain
         | since your eyes won't be able to focus properly.
         | 
         | My provider calls them "computer glasses". It does not have
         | blue light filtering as I do work with implementing web designs
         | and color accuracy does matter to me.
         | 
         | I totally recommend computer glasses for anyone who works all
         | day looking at a computer screen.
         | 
         | They would be a separate prescription / lens type (as in not
         | progressive I think) compared to daily use glasses. I do have
         | to swap to my daily use when not using my computer glasses
         | outside of sitting and looking at a monitor.
         | 
         | Using my daily use for computer monitor reading doesn't feel
         | "right" compared to my computer glasses. There is a clear
         | difference between them.
        
           | bmurphy1976 wrote:
           | >Using it outside of its intended distance will cause eye
           | strain since your eyes won't be able to focus properly.
           | 
           | Mine are more useful that I anticipated when I'm not using
           | them for work. I would advise against anybody driving with
           | the wrong pair of glasses, but I can see significantly better
           | with my occupational lenses than without. I would not trust
           | them at night, but during the day I can see well enough I am
           | not concerned about my driving. I don't intend to drive with
           | them, but there has been the occasion here or there when I
           | had to run somewhere quickly and forgot to swap my glasses.
           | 
           | It also helps that mine are progressives, so the very very
           | top part of the lens is my "regular" prescription. I can use
           | that to focus on something at a distance if necessary.
           | 
           | >They would be a separate prescription / lens type (as in not
           | progressive I think) compared to daily use glasses. I do have
           | to swap to my daily use when not using my computer glasses
           | outside of sitting and looking at a monitor.
           | 
           | Like I mentioned above, mine are both occupational and
           | progressive. I'd like to try non-progressive occupational
           | lenses to see if I like them better, but I'm not convinced it
           | would be worth the money.
        
             | cableshaft wrote:
             | Same. I've driven short distances sometimes to pick up
             | lunch or something 5-10 minutes away because I forgot to
             | switch my glasses. It wasn't ideal but perfectly doable.
             | 
             | I've only done it a handful of times, though. And also I
             | wouldn't do so at night.
        
           | jbornhorst wrote:
           | Would love to speak with you for 20 mins to learn from your
           | experience. If interested, ping me at jbornhorst [at] gmail
           | [dot] com and I'll coordinate times.
        
           | mdnahas wrote:
           | Me too. My progressive lenses give me eye strain and it is
           | much worse at the computer. I have non-progressive lens for
           | work and they're much more comfortable. (Especially with my
           | large monitor.)
        
           | cableshaft wrote:
           | > Using it outside of its intended distance will cause eye
           | strain since your eyes won't be able to focus properly.
           | 
           | I don't find that at all, personally. I wear my computer
           | glasses almost all the time in the house and just let myself
           | not try to focus on things. If anything it seems to be better
           | than my normal distance lenses for eye strain, for me,
           | because my eyes do try to focus with my normal lenses since
           | it's supposed to be perfectly clear, where I know there's a
           | good reason they're not in focus when I'm not wearing them.
           | 
           | My distance glasses have progressive lenses, which may be
           | part of that, as there's different strength depending on
           | where you're looking at in the glasses. I've been tempted to
           | remove progressive lenses from my next pair, as I tend to
           | take them off to read anyway, and then I'd get a flat
           | prescription like I have on my computer lenses.
        
         | convolvatron wrote:
         | this totally works. I also had a someone add in prism, which
         | really did help fatigue. but for reasons I ended up using the
         | occupational almost all the time, and ended up really screwing
         | with my ability to use perspective to gauge distance. now I'm
         | really poor at judging the sizes of things and I used to be
         | able to tell you at half a meter if it was a 10-32 or a 5mm
         | screw
        
           | walterbell wrote:
           | The brain and visual perception system are incredibly
           | adaptable, even to incorrect prescriptions. Some unwanted
           | adaptions can be reversed by slowly changing any problematic
           | parameters, like (un)training wheels. This would have been
           | inordinately expensive before the era of self-service online
           | glasses.
        
         | dinfinity wrote:
         | Unsure if this will work for your case, but I am _very_ happy
         | with my implanted contact lenses. They sit behind my iris and
         | optically function as normal contact lenses. No hassle, just a
         | straight up body upgrade.
         | 
         | See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intraocular_lens
         | 
         | I was very surprised that this is not a more common thing to
         | hear about amongst people with bad eyesight. Laser correction
         | sucks in comparison, with more risks of complications,
         | generally worse vision outcomes, longer recovery, etc. The lens
         | implantation process is even undoable and as safe as cataract
         | surgery which has been done since the 1970s.
        
           | bmurphy1976 wrote:
           | Honestly, I'm absolutely terrified of doing anything that
           | might damage my eyesight. I know the common procedures (i.e.
           | Lasik) have come a long way in the last two decades and are
           | very low risk, but they are not zero risk. I won't even wear
           | contact lenses, I long ago fully committed to glasses. That
           | type of procedure doesn't fit my risk tolerance.
        
             | dinfinity wrote:
             | I understand the hesitation, but that's the thing about
             | this: It's even simpler than cataract surgery (where they
             | actually _replace_ your own lenses instead of just flopping
             | one in front of it), which is very very common, and very
             | very safe.
             | 
             | See:
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cataract_surgery
             | 
             | IIRC the chance of complications for Lasik is about 10x
             | that of the one for intraocular lens implantation. The
             | nature of the complications for the latter is also more
             | along the lines of "an eye infection for a month" instead
             | of something permanent.
             | 
             | I definitely suggest researching it (and not mentally
             | lumping it in with Lasik, because they are quite
             | different). Cheesy, but my only regret is not having done
             | it years sooner.
        
               | hollerith wrote:
               | >cataract surgery, which is very very common, and very
               | very safe.
               | 
               | Ever since my elderly friend had cataract surgery (5
               | years ago) she finds bright light painful, so she spends
               | less time outdoors.
        
               | fawley wrote:
               | I perpetually rub/touch my eyes. My big fear around these
               | surgeries is weakening a structure such that damage is
               | more likely.
        
               | dustingetz wrote:
               | you need to stop, that can cause keratokonus
               | 
               | try bandaids on your fingers, it takes 21 days to form a
               | habit. buy a few big boxes, 30 bandaids a day is cheaper
               | than a beer
        
               | bluGill wrote:
               | I would still never bifocals or at least reading glasses.
               | Once you reach around 45 everyone day. Lasix probably
               | makes you need them sooner (but we are talking at most a
               | couple years, not very significant)
               | 
               | I get my glasses in ANSI rated safety glasses so wearing
               | glasses all the time doubles as protection from all the
               | things that could get in my eyes. This is useful if you
               | have hobbies where that is a worry, though for most
               | people you are fine without.
        
               | OJFord wrote:
               | > I would still never bifocals or at least reading
               | glasses. Once you reach around 45 everyone day.
               | 
               | What are the rest of the words? Or the
               | auto'correct'-corrections?
               | 
               | You would still wear* and after 45 everyone does*
               | perhaps?
        
               | bluGill wrote:
               | Sigh too late to edit anymore.
               | 
               | never should have been need
        
             | KennyBlanken wrote:
             | Lasik et al are elective surgery on a critical organ.
        
           | rypskar wrote:
           | I did the same more than 10 years ago, still perfect vision.
           | It did take around 15 minutes for each eye, with 2 weeks
           | between and 10-15 minutes recovery time
        
           | dmpayton wrote:
           | In my case, I've had multiple ophthalmologists recommend
           | against getting IOLs until I'm much, much older, as the risk
           | of side affects (specifically retinal detachment) outweighs
           | the benefit I would get from having them.
           | 
           | I still dream of being able to see first thing when I wake
           | up.
        
         | walterbell wrote:
         | _> now have to juggle two pairs of glasses instead of one_
         | 
         | This can be mitigated with custom magnetic clip lenses, e.g.
         | Chemistrie. Tiny magnets are implanted into your current frame.
         | Clip lens changes the focal length of your existing glasses by
         | a fixed offset. Computer or reading clip can be changed in
         | seconds. They also have polarized clips for instant sunglasses
         | on your existing frame, which are better than
         | Transitions/photochromic because they work while driving and
         | are instant on/off.
        
           | bmurphy1976 wrote:
           | It's an interesting approach. I used clip on sun glasses for
           | years, but you still have the problem of having to juggle the
           | clips and while they are smaller and easier to carry they are
           | also far more fragile and easier to lose. I'm not sure they
           | would provide any benefit over what I have now but it's good
           | to know there are options!
        
           | jbornhorst wrote:
           | oh these are super interesting - i've never seen magnets in
           | the len's before. thanks for sharing.
        
             | walterbell wrote:
             | They are mostly sold via opticians who do the changes
             | locally, but there's also an online option, 150 for clip +
             | lens mod + 2-way shipment, additional clips for 75,
             | https://www.buychemistrie.com/product-page/chemistrie-
             | comput...
        
         | onurtag wrote:
         | > With my regular lenses there's a part of the screen that's
         | about a half dollar coin in size that's clear and in focus. The
         | rest of the screen is every so slightly blurry.
         | 
         | I have two glasses that have lenses with a similar
         | prescription. The older one has some basic lenses and anything
         | outside the center gets gradually less clear towards the edges.
         | The newer one has aspherical lenses and even the areas near the
         | edges are quite clear. It wasn't expensive either. The best
         | lens I have used was probably a zeiss one but I'm guessing the
         | full featured zeiss is probably quite expensive.
        
         | KurSix wrote:
         | Do you find yourself swapping glasses a lot throughout the day,
         | or do you mostly stick with the occupational ones when working?
        
       | peterldowns wrote:
       | Yes, but the solution is simple -- get up and look at something
       | further away than my screen. I rely on my eyes bothering me to
       | tell me that I need to get up and move.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | Hey, would love to chat. Can you shoot me a quick email at
         | jbornhorst [at] gmail [dot] com so we can coordinate?
        
         | notfed wrote:
         | This is called the 20/20/20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at
         | someone 20ft away (or just close your eyes) for 20 seconds.
         | 
         | I wouldn't call it "the" solution: it's part of a complete
         | breakfast.
        
       | JuettnerDistrib wrote:
       | I've had the bad luck that my first prescription was quite wrong:
       | incorrect axis for astigmatism, and incorrect spherical (I
       | basically have only astigmatism, no spherical). So for years I
       | was suffering through the days. Optometrists flat out refuse to
       | correct such mistakes (I've been to many!), preferring only minor
       | changes. I finally started ordering a bunch of glasses cheaply
       | online, and eventually found a prescription that works for me.
       | Cannot trust optometrists anymore.
        
         | rom16384 wrote:
         | I found an ophthalmologist that gets my prescription right,
         | with optometrists it's a roll of the dice.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | I would love to speak with you. This is the exact case I'm
         | interested in. I'm at jbornhorst [at] gmail [dot] com if you
         | have 20-30 mins to spare.
        
       | irrational wrote:
       | Sometimes when I'm wearing glasses, never when I'm wearing
       | contacts.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | would love to chat. Mind dropping me a line at jbornhorst [at]
         | gmail [dot] com and I'll coordinate a time?
        
       | pinkmuffinere wrote:
       | I (nearsighted) wear glasses that are quite old at this point, I
       | think ~7 years? My prescription has certainly changed since then,
       | and I have had new glasses made a couple times, but the new
       | glasses always make my eyes feel uncomfortable, despite improving
       | my vision. I try them for a couple days and then give up and
       | return to my 7-year-old glasses. It's been a while, so I don't
       | remember my true prescription, nor the prescription associated
       | with my 7-year-old glasses.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | I think you'd be a great candidate for a 20 min interview. Ping
         | me at jbornhorst [AT] gmail [DOT] com if you'd like to chat.
        
       | dakiol wrote:
       | Slightly related: does anyone do eye "exercises"? As in, for 5
       | minutes, move the eyes all around in a 360 degrees fashion,
       | alternating with left to right (and right to left) movements. I
       | use the computer many hours per day and that means my eyes are
       | usually fixed at a 27 inch monitor for hours. I think the
       | exercises are "strengthening" my eyes muscles... not sure if true
       | though.
        
         | dumbfounder wrote:
         | This might be vestibular or neurological in nature. I had a
         | vestibular condition that affected my eyesight and did rehab
         | and they gave me eye exercises that helped somewhat. Fast
         | forward a few years of struggling and I found that it was
         | caused by migraines (not the painful kind, just brain
         | disruption). And those migraines are caused by temporal lobe
         | epilepsy. But that part isn't important, it's that all sorts of
         | migraines caused by all sorts of issues can disrupt eyesight.
         | And I think it is more common than people realize because there
         | is no pain. It can cause eyesight issues, brain fog, and
         | potentially dizziness. You need that brain to see so if it is
         | disrupted often your sight will be as well. I am surprised
         | people are talking about neurological angles.
        
         | notfed wrote:
         | The term to Google for this is "vision therapy": there are
         | several tried and true exercises.
        
       | foobarian wrote:
       | I'm nearsighted with a slight bit of astigmatism. (-6 or so). I
       | got progressive lenses the last time around at the optician. I
       | hated the whole process; it was desperate and high-pressure
       | sales. I hate the progressive lenses because using them requires
       | tilting your head at awkward angles. I hate that the near-sighted
       | prescriptions are regulated as much as they are.
       | 
       | I ended up self-serving at eyebuydirect.com. For the price of the
       | highway robbery at the local optician I got 6 pairs of reasonable
       | quality frames with regular lenses stepping along a range I
       | guessed I need for computer work. And I couldn't be happier, even
       | though I ignored the astigmatism bit. It's possible there is a
       | bit of that engineer DIY itch that got scratched in the process
       | as well :-)
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | I would LOVE to speak with you. 20-30 mins? Drop me a line at
         | jbornhorst [at] gmail [dot] com?
        
         | walterbell wrote:
         | Well done. EBD lenses are made by the same company that sells
         | to local opticians.
         | 
         | Progressive lenses also influence visual perception after years
         | of use, unlike old-school bifocals with a clear shift in focus.
        
         | kccqzy wrote:
         | I also recommend eyebuydirect.com. Although it's part of the
         | eyeglass monopoly (Essilor Luxottica), they have frames that
         | are good looking and affordable, and all the single vision
         | lenses are cheap except for the 1.74 high index ones.
        
           | walterbell wrote:
           | _> they have frames that are good looking and affordable_
           | 
           | Some of their frames are clones of expensive, popular frames
           | from boutique designers. Perhaps that's why they are retired
           | after a while.
        
       | avalys wrote:
       | Anecdotally related, but, during Covid and remote work I went to
       | an optometrist around age 35 after I noticed my distance vision
       | was blurry, especially at night after working inside all day.
       | 
       | They told me "you have 20/20 vision, your vision is completely
       | fine, you don't need glasses!" But, I responded, my vision is
       | definitely blurry. They politely told me to stop wasting their
       | time.
       | 
       | Dissatisfied, I went to another optometrist, and paid closer
       | attention to the whole process. After some discussion with the
       | doctor, we arrived at the conclusion - I've had essentially 20/7
       | vision my entire life, and now in certain circumstances my vision
       | has degraded to 20/20!
       | 
       | They gave me a prescription and now I am perfectly happy having
       | laser-sharp vision again when I want it.
        
         | simoncion wrote:
         | How the hell did you convince your optometrist to correct your
         | vision to 20/7?
         | 
         | The past two docs I've been two have ignored me when I've said
         | "I can make out the letters, but they're blurry and fuzzy. Can
         | we go stronger?" with "Well, that's corrected to 20/20
         | vision.".
         | 
         | I'm very, very strongly considering finding a used eye-testing-
         | headgear thingie like they have in their offices, learning how
         | to use it, and doing the testing for myself.
        
           | walterbell wrote:
           | Search "trial lens set" and "trial lens frame", the portable
           | versions which were used for decades in the past.
        
             | notfed wrote:
             | Wow...thank you for this phrase. I always thought it was
             | impossible to find prescription lenses online, and there's
             | a box with literally all of them...
        
               | walterbell wrote:
               | As recommended elsewhere in this thread, EyeBuyDirect is
               | quite good if you have enough knowledge to specify your
               | own glasses and fitting. They are owned by upstream
               | BigLens(tm), so lens quality is comparable to many
               | opticians, with low pricing since they make their margin
               | on frames. If you need custom fitting height for one of
               | their frames, you can measure and return after receiving
               | the glasses, then they will remake a new pair for free
               | within 14 days of receiving the first pair.
        
               | genewitch wrote:
               | I've used GlassesUSA.com before as well. I kind of switch
               | between them depending on who has a better sale for my
               | kids' glasses.
        
           | YZF wrote:
           | That's odd. Most optometrists I've seen over my life (and
           | specifically here in Canada, BC) will keep trying to adjust
           | and ask you if it's sharper or not before they settle on the
           | numbers. They'll go higher or lower power and/or astigmatism
           | in different increments. They're also generally pretty cool
           | with things like testing with a laptop monitor and getting
           | the sharpest computer prescription.
           | 
           | Maybe this is your sweet spot?
        
           | jbornhorst wrote:
           | Would love to chat if you're up for it. I'm at jbornhorst
           | [at] gmail [dot] com
        
       | JZL003 wrote:
       | Also look at a doctor specializing in small prisms. Sometimes
       | your eyes don't perfectly align at their resting state so one eye
       | is constantly constantly using muscles to pull it centered. For
       | me, that means when I get tired and those small muscles can't
       | keep up, I get headaches and it gets worse. Neurovisual places
       | can give very tiny prism additions so your eyes don't have to
       | move but the light is "shifted" over.
        
         | JZL003 wrote:
         | Also there are very cheap prescriptions sites online which
         | ship. You can try different prescriptions, with varying power
         | (magnification) and see which works for you for computer,
         | reading. I found that the computer glasses prescribed were way
         | to strong (all they do is subtract .25 from the first number on
         | both eyes, often). But if I only subtract .1 it was perfect,
         | helpful for computer sessions but if I look up everything isn't
         | blurry
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | would love to chat to learn more from your experience. i'm at
         | jbornhorst [at] gmail [dot] com if you have 20-30 mins to
         | spare.
        
       | winrid wrote:
       | I had this issue until I got a 2nd prescription by a different
       | provider and new lenses. Sometimes lense material etc also
       | matters. Bigger PITA than I thought getting glasses was going to
       | be.
       | 
       | Nearsighted, left eye worse.
        
         | amluto wrote:
         | Lens material absolutely matters. Glasses suffer from chromatic
         | aberration, and this causes visible rainbows away from the
         | center of the lens. A material with a higher Abbe number will
         | perform better.
         | 
         | For common lens materials, polycarbonate has a low Abbe number,
         | and Trivex is a widely available alternative with a higher Abbe
         | number. You can find tables online for common lens materials.
        
       | r_klancer wrote:
       | I will say this: if you're not happy with your current
       | prescription, there are ways to get a more intense workup and
       | better outcomes by going to an academic optometry center. In my
       | case, I went to the New England College of Optometry and got
       | prescribed a special type of contact lenses ("scleral" lenses)
       | which have been a major quality of life enhancement.
       | 
       | They're expensive, there was a learning curve for getting them on
       | correctly, and it took several followup appointments to get the
       | correct fit from the manufacturer, but I can wear the lenses
       | almost all day and they give me clear, sharp, 20/20 vision.
       | 
       | Also, when I'm wearing them I _need_ reading glasses to read up
       | close--my uncorrected vision actually compensates for my slight
       | age related nearsightedness. But my vision is so much better I
       | don 't mind at all!
       | 
       | The back story is that I had lifelong astigmatism and 2 eyes with
       | different powers (one more farsighted than the other one) which
       | led to some mild amblyopia (lazy eye) that I've had since
       | childhood. My vision wasn't "that bad" so I got by without using
       | my glasses for a long time. But when I tried using my several
       | year old prescription glasses I found that presbyopia (that age
       | related inability to focus on anything up close) made the glasses
       | almost useless for reading.
       | 
       | Even though I'm a dev who looks at screens all day, I didn't
       | think I minded, but I noticed in recent years that my appetite
       | for reading books had disappeared was partly due to noticeable
       | eye strain, but also due to generalized eye fatigue that I wasn't
       | really acknowledging. I also had to sit up front in meeting rooms
       | to follow along with anything projected on the screen, which was
       | annoying.
       | 
       | A colleague mentioned the book Fixing My Gaze
       | (https://www.google.com/books/edition/Fixing_My_Gaze/Ul16tPVk...)
       | and I bought it. It's partly a personal narrative by a
       | neuroscientist who was stereoblind and taught herself to develop
       | stereo vision in middle age (she was profiled by Oliver Sacks at
       | one point). But it's also a history of research optometry, which
       | focuses on refractive vision correction and visual processing (as
       | distinct from eye diseases) and which I barely even knew was a
       | thing. Which led me to NECO and my big quality of life
       | improvement!
        
         | giulianob wrote:
         | I just recently got sclerals for dry eyes and I'm still going
         | through the adjustment process. Usually they are prescribed for
         | keratoconus (misshaped cornea) and not something most people
         | need. The doctor actually said it's more challenging putting it
         | on someone without keratoconus (like me) because I am used to
         | having fairly good vision with my glasses and sclerals aren't
         | as easy to get right as glasses/normal contacts. They have been
         | amazing for dry eyes so far though.
        
       | amluto wrote:
       | Two factors worth looking at:
       | 
       | 1. Base curve. Some people are bothered by lenses with a high
       | base curve. Talk to an optician.
       | 
       | 2. Flicker. Lights that flicker can cause headaches and other
       | issues. This includes many LEDs, especially ones from more than a
       | couple years ago, as well as old CRT monitors. "Driverless" LEDs
       | are a major offender. Some modern "low persistence" displays
       | could also be problematic. (I have no idea why anyone wants a low
       | persistence monitor. I understand why low persistence is useful
       | for VR, but monitors aren't VR.) There's a standard called IEEE
       | 1789 that the industry mostly ignores.
        
       | fragmede wrote:
       | have you talked with an opthalmologist?
       | 
       | what's your eye pressure?
        
       | gezellig wrote:
       | I am very nearsighted (-7.5 in both eyes), I've worn daily
       | contact lenses almost exclusively for 20 years. I also have non
       | glaucoma ocular hypertension which puts me at a higher risk for
       | retinal detachment. I have no headaches or eye strain after long
       | screen days, but I do get blurry vision and lots of floaters
       | after long screen days. If you want to know anything else I'd be
       | happy to chat.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | would love to chat - i'm at jbornhorst [at] gmail [dot] com if
         | you have 20-30 mins to spare.
        
       | antisthenes wrote:
       | Yes, they bug me.
       | 
       | I am nearsighted (-7.5 with astigmatism in left, -6.0 in right).
       | 
       | Recently been experiencing slight spasms and fatigue in the left
       | eye. Always been very sensitive to light changes. Dry eye isn't
       | frequent (yet), but I assume will get more so with age.
       | 
       | Night-time driving is awful even with full correction, it seems
       | like I get afterflashes for a fraction of a second after seeing
       | every single oncoming vehicle.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | I would love to speak with you. This is the exact case I'm
         | interested in. I'm at jbornhorst [at] gmail [dot] com if you
         | have 20-30 mins to spare.
        
       | m3047 wrote:
       | My eyes have always bugged me, but I've also had allergies. It's
       | also become clear over time that I have pretty bad astigmatism.
       | I've always been farsighted.
       | 
       | I first got "dimestore readers" specifically for computer use, to
       | reduce eyestrain. When I put them on at the beginning of the day
       | I'd notice some weirdness (phantom artifacts and double vision)
       | but my brain would cancel it out and all was good. After about a
       | decade though, I wasn't noticing those artifacts at the beginning
       | of the day, but while driving home I'd see double. That led to
       | getting prescription glasses, and learning lot about astigmatism.
       | 
       | Until recently, I always tested better than normal at infinity
       | without glasses. At infinity, most of my correction is
       | astigmatism. Corrected, I'm still 20/10. But here's the "weird
       | trick": I've learned that it's something that my eyes / brain are
       | doing combined with the astigmatism. I can still conjure "hot
       | spots" with near perfect clarity even without glasses, but it
       | strains my eyes (I don't get full FOV clarity without glasses
       | anymore).
       | 
       | I can't stand progressive lenses, although I have a pair for
       | super close-in work. All my task glasses are "single pane of
       | glass", my "infinity" glasses are bifocals. These days my eyes
       | are more comfortable wearing the infinity glasses than not. The
       | truly noticeable difference with glasses was night driving: no
       | more stars! Huge reduction in eyestrain and improved basic
       | ability to see when challenged by oncoming headlights; I've
       | combined that with some aggressive rose tint in a pair
       | specifically for night driving (very 70's mod frames. woot!).
       | 
       | I'll never get Lasik because I've been told repeatedly that if I
       | did so they wouldn't be able to correct me to 20/10 any longer.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | Would love to chat. Drop me a line at jbornhorst [at] gmail
         | [dot] com and I'll coordinate times.
        
         | ajolly wrote:
         | They won't officially try and correct to that level. I did
         | maintain 20/15 both before and after, but still have a mild
         | astigmatism, so I still wear glasses
        
       | account-5 wrote:
       | I've coloured lenses that sort this out, I have meares irken
       | syndrome.
        
       | tlb wrote:
       | I'm in my 50s and about 3 diopters farsighted. I had trouble
       | getting a good prescription for screen glasses. My optometrist
       | insisted that +1.25 was the right correction for desktop screens,
       | but it gave me eye strain. I like my screen a little closer, or
       | else my corneas are extra-stiff. Anyway, I tried a few versions
       | and found that +1.75 was better for my desk setup.
       | 
       | Tip: Zenni.com lets you order pairs with custom corrections in
       | 0.25 diopter increments for under $100 each, so you can try a few
       | and find what feels best for several hours of screen time.
        
         | devilbunny wrote:
         | Up to +3 can easily be tried on and bought at a drugstore.
         | 
         | I'm severely myopic (-11), though that is corrected completely
         | by contacts. Presbyopia, alas, hits us all.
        
           | tlb wrote:
           | Well, I need a substantial astigmatism correction too. I've
           | tried combining both -- my prescription distance glasses with
           | drug-store reading glasses over top -- but it's wobbly and
           | limits my field of view to less than a whole big monitor.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | I'd love to speak with you, especially given that you've
         | already tried multiple test Rx's. Email me at jbornhorst [at]
         | gmail.com if interested?
        
         | ThatPlayer wrote:
         | You can also just get an optical trial lens set like they have
         | at the optometrists for less than 200$.
        
       | musha68k wrote:
       | Could also be something as simple as lacking proper hydration.
        
       | jasode wrote:
       | The solution for me to eliminate headaches when working at
       | computer screens was getting an extra set of _intermediate
       | distance_ glasses specifically for computer work. The  "computer
       | screen distance" of 3 ft is in between book-reading distance of 1
       | feet and driving distance 20'+ feet. I also avoid progressive
       | lenses or high-index lenses for computer work. I commented about
       | how arrived at this solution previously:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15375221
       | 
       | Reading glasses work fine when the screen is very close to your
       | face such as a laptop screen. However if it's a separate monitor
       | that's ~30 inches away, reading glasses are slightly blurry which
       | can lead to eyestrain and headaches.
       | 
       | https://www.warbyparker.com/learn/wp-content/uploads/2023/04...
       | 
       | Look into it if you suspect it's a contributor to headaches:
       | https://www.google.com/search?q=computer+glasses+%22intermed...
        
         | kps wrote:
         | > I also avoid [...] high-index lenses for computer work.
         | 
         | Yes! You're the first to mention this.
         | 
         | It's not refractive index itself that's the problem, it's
         | dispersion (roughly, the degree to which refractive index
         | _varies_ across the visual spectrum, described by 'Abbe
         | number'). We 've all seen pictures of a prism splitting a beam
         | of white light into a rainbow -- for visual purposes, the less
         | split the better.
         | 
         | Higher-index materials _tend_ to have poorer dispersion, _but_
         | especially in the mid-range 1.6ish, there are wide variations
         | in quality at the same index. Glass tends to be best, if your
         | prescription is light enough that you can handle the weight.
         | Polycarbonate and acrylic are awful. MR-8 is in the middle, and
         | what I 've settled on for recent computer glasses.
        
           | globnomulous wrote:
           | Hear, hear!
           | 
           | Here's a good way to test your glass's refraction index. On
           | your desktop find a small red icon with something white in
           | the center. Stare directly at it. Now turn your head until
           | the icon is at the edge of your vision. If your lenses are
           | cheap polycarbonate, the white part of the icon will appear
           | to move towards the edge of the icon or even out of it.
           | 
           | Most non-cheapo glasses today in the US use Trivex. It's a
           | polymer, not glass, but its Abbe number is 43, which is
           | perfectly adequate.
           | 
           | Crown glass, with its Abbe number of 59, is superior, but the
           | eyeball can discern differences only up to 45-50, so most of
           | Crown glass's improvement over Trivex is imperceptible.
           | 
           | This is partly why it's not offered in glasses (again, in the
           | US, at least according to my optometrist). It is also twice
           | as heavy, shatters (polymers like Trivex don't), and
           | scratches more easily.
        
             | walterbell wrote:
             | Among non-glass options, CR-39 is a good choice for
             | computer glasses with prescriptions weaker than -5:
             | - high (58) Abbe number       - thick (1.5 index)       -
             | cheapest
             | 
             | Thickness and weight can be mitigated with a smaller frame,
             | e.g. vintage options.
             | 
             | Actually buying CR-39 lens might require solving a dark
             | pattern maze of online or offline options, since the cost
             | is so low.
        
               | fy20 wrote:
               | https://www.selectspecs.com/ if you are in Europe. I've
               | been using them for years.
        
               | AceyMan wrote:
               | My indoor (non Transitions(tm)) multifocus2 glasses are
               | CR-391.
               | 
               | I'd used the same material for my outdoor/sports/driving
               | frames but it's higher density caused them to slide down
               | my nose during activity so the next pair I opted for
               | Trivex.
               | 
               | --
               | 
               | 1-CR-39 requires full frame spectacles, as drilling holes
               | is verboten.
               | 
               | 2-Shamir Autograph III, awesome & highly recommended.
        
           | corysama wrote:
           | A fun fact I learned recently, after years of casually
           | skimming color science, is that our eyes cannot focus the
           | entire visual spectrum at once.
           | 
           | That's why our cone response to the spectrum looks like https
           | ://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone_cell#/media/File%3ACone...
           | instead of having cleanly segregated red vs. green responses.
           | If it was segregated, we could only focus on red or green but
           | not both. By having a heavy overlap, we can get a sharp focus
           | on yellow. And, the visual system makes the full spectrum
           | work by deriving the red vs. green concepts from the
           | difference between the two cone responses. Blue focus is
           | accepted as a necessary sacrifice.
        
           | TylerE wrote:
           | One problem I have (well, one of many these days, including
           | some double vision, sigh) is that I'm very far sighted in one
           | eye, and near sighted in the other, so one lens is barely
           | anything, and the other is a coke bottle.
        
           | roncesvalles wrote:
           | It's not just about the material. It's also about how the
           | lens is made. For me, choosing "freeform" over "aspheric" was
           | night and day.
        
             | matt_heimer wrote:
             | Where are you ordering glasses from that you can make
             | selections like this?
        
           | fy20 wrote:
           | A few years ago an optician convinced me to get some fancy
           | 1.67 index lenses, but I couldn't deal with the chromatic
           | abrasion. The text at the peripheral parts of my monitor were
           | clearly split into their RGB components. For frontend work it
           | was impossible, as I couldn't tell if something was not
           | aligned or it was just the chromatic abrasion.
           | 
           | Now I always go for the thickest lenses (which are also
           | usually the cheapest) for this reason. My prescription is
           | -3.75, and there isn't any noticeable difference with thinner
           | lenses.
        
             | fsckboy wrote:
             | chromatic aberration
             | 
             | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aberration#Noun
        
             | dnh44 wrote:
             | All the high index lens materials suffer from chromatic
             | aberration.
             | 
             | The lens material you've now chosen actually has the best
             | optical properties out of all the plastic lens materials.
             | Its only downside is that the refractive index is only 1.5
             | which does mean they will be a little bit thicker than the
             | high index ones.
             | 
             | You could also try a material called Trivex which also has
             | low chromatic aberration while being a little thinner than
             | the material you are using which is called CR-39
        
           | dnh44 wrote:
           | You could also try Trivex instead of MR-8. Lens thickness
           | should be similar but it has a higher ABBE value.
        
         | darrylb42 wrote:
         | This worked for me as well. I just asked the eye doctor for
         | something that would work just past my out stretched finger
         | tips which is where my monitor lives.
         | 
         | What kills me is going into the office where I am switching
         | between glasses. Different rooms with different Zoom screens.
         | At home is much nicer where I just have one big monitor to
         | watch.
         | 
         | I take my glasses off to read my phone most of the time.
         | Technically my primary glasses are progressives but it is nicer
         | to take them off.
        
           | UncleOxidant wrote:
           | > I take my glasses off to read my phone most of the time.
           | Technically my primary glasses are progressives but it is
           | nicer to take them off.
           | 
           | Same. I wear progressive lenses and I feel like they do fine
           | as far as being able to read the text on my phone or for
           | reading a book. But I tend to take off my glasses anyway to
           | do these things. I'm not entirely sure why this is since I
           | seem to be able to read the text fine with the glasses. My
           | hypothesis is that I like being closer to the text so that it
           | fills up more of my visual field which helps me mentally
           | focus on the text better.
        
         | Vivtek wrote:
         | Same - the funny thing is that right now my 3-foot prescription
         | is _zero_ (plus a bunch of astigmatic correction). Apparently
         | my mortal frame has accepted its purpose.
        
         | QuantumGood wrote:
         | I use a 60" TV and get farther from it. Stopped needing
         | glasses.
        
           | Marsymars wrote:
           | I don't wear glasses (yet) but came to this thread to ask
           | what effect this would have. (I do a good chunk of my
           | computing on a 65" display at 2m.)
        
             | QuantumGood wrote:
             | I also regularly look farther away out the window and back
             | inside. That kept me going back and forth on needing
             | glasses for years, but when I set up the monitor, no more
             | need for glasses. (I'm 65)
        
         | crazygringo wrote:
         | I'm in a similar boat.
         | 
         | I'm nearsighted and don't need glasses to see my computer
         | screen clearly at all. But nevertheless I started getting
         | headaches from eye strain.
         | 
         | Went to the optometrist, got a pair of glasses just to reduce
         | eye strain at screen distance. Zero difference in sharpness,
         | but I can work all day long with zero eye fatigue.
        
         | creer wrote:
         | I use different corrections for laptop at about 18-28" and
         | reading in an armchair at 15-23" -ish. It's really not a big
         | difference in distance!! - and still very noticeable.
         | 
         | It's not for avoiding outright headaches (I don't get vision
         | headaches) but it's clearly more comfortable. It's quite
         | possible that what's pleasant is in part the change of pace -
         | but it is also better adapted for sharpness.
        
         | jwr wrote:
         | Same here: my reading glasses are great for reading, but when I
         | work with computers, my screen is halfway between wrist and
         | knuckles on an extended arm. That's too far for reading
         | glasses. So I got a set of intermediates and things are great.
         | I use them for working with a screen or a laptop, while I use
         | the reading glasses for reading, soldering and other work where
         | the objects I'm looking at are within 40cm of my eyes.
        
         | pier25 wrote:
         | > _book-reading distance of 1 feet_
         | 
         | 12 inches?
         | 
         | that's way too close
        
           | fn-mote wrote:
           | Can't find the message you're replying to but I think you're
           | imagining the person sitting up.
           | 
           | Imagine them lying down or propped up on their elbows with
           | the book on the floor. Then that distance seems about right.
        
             | pier25 wrote:
             | That's way too close for books or screens. Long term it can
             | cause myopia.
        
               | Quarrel wrote:
               | I thought this had been debunked as the cause of myopia?
               | 
               | (Or am I totally misremembering something...)
        
         | tiahura wrote:
         | What sort of prescription is right for Oculus?
        
           | bartman wrote:
           | You can get specific insets for the headsets from places like
           | VR Optician. I've had some made with my normal prescription
           | and they work perfectly. The people running VR Optician are
           | actual opticians so you can also ask them if any correction
           | factor would be needed for your particular situation.
        
         | nixonpjoshua wrote:
         | I can second this, after getting PRK I ended up slightly
         | farsighted after being majorly nearsighted, I did a
         | intermediate pupillary distance between my distance PD and near
         | PD and its great for how I use a computer which is 99% of
         | reading I do.
        
         | jen729w wrote:
         | I only need a basic 1.0 reading prescription but I have about 5
         | pairs of glasses. I'm hyper-sensitive to even the slightest
         | deviation in prescription.
         | 
         | Currently wearing, to look at arms-length monitor screen, add
         | +1.0. Will move out to the porch to read and switch to add
         | +1.5. Will come back to cook and switch to my basic
         | prescription.
         | 
         | I must put on and take off 300 pairs of glasses a day. But I
         | don't care. I can't do anything else.
        
           | jbornhorst wrote:
           | I'd love to speak with you - your experience is right in my
           | target zone to research. If interested ping me at jbornhorst
           | [at] gmail.com
        
         | KurSix wrote:
         | That makes a lot of sense. I've heard of people using computer-
         | specific prescriptions, but I never really thought about how
         | much difference that intermediate distance can make. I wonder
         | how many cases of "mystery" eye strain are just from using the
         | wrong focal range all day
        
         | cableshaft wrote:
         | I do the same. In fact I usually just wear the intermediate
         | distance glasses all the time around the house, and only switch
         | to my primary glasses when I leave the house. Considering I
         | work from home that can mean that I wear my intermediate
         | glasses almost all day long most days.
         | 
         | That almost seems to reduce eyestrain as well, at least for me,
         | as they're still good enough to see everything (I can't read
         | text across the room but I can halfway across the room), just
         | not without some light blur on things, and I seem to have
         | trained my brain to stop trying to focus on things, just let it
         | stay in the blur (at least while I have my intermediate glasses
         | on), and that seems to relax my eyes more.
         | 
         | But the intermediate glasses are super clear for when I'm on
         | the computer, which is a good chunk of the day and where I
         | really need to see nice and sharp, as I'm manipulating things
         | with pixel precision at times (game ui, web ui, board game
         | graphic design).
        
         | Projectiboga wrote:
         | How do you do with driving and seeing smaller things on your
         | automobile dashboard? I'm up around 7 diopters nearsighted so
         | maybe it depends on the range of needed focusing.
        
         | raffraffraff wrote:
         | I have a very weird situation where my right eye was fine but
         | my left, for reasons unknown, has a thicker lens. This can be
         | happen with cataracts but I'm just under 50 and have zero
         | clouding. The eye doctor said it's not myopia in the "usual"
         | sense but the end result is the same: myopia prescription lens.
         | 
         | Thing is, I ignored it for about 10 years and my brain simply
         | ignored whatever signal was coming from that eye. I'd look at
         | things and see no blurring unless I closed my right eye.
         | However, at a certain crossover distance my brain "switches
         | over" because my left eye has amazing close vision and my right
         | eye doesn't. I can actually feel it when this happens, like a
         | physical sensation. No headaches, but it is "odd".
         | 
         | Anyway, I decided to get glasses, and it turns out I need two
         | different prescriptions. One is close up (not longsightedness,
         | it is still a myopia lens). The other is for 1m-[?]
        
           | accountcreated2 wrote:
           | A myopic prescription can actually be good for seeing things
           | close up but not in the distance- explains why you're able to
           | see close up with that eye OK
        
       | mauvehaus wrote:
       | I'm not sure I'm entirely on board with the idea that we've got
       | optometry down to the point where anyone can claim to have
       | arrived at the correct prescription without the wearer having
       | tried a bunch and finding what works in reality. Having worn
       | glasses for over 75% of my 40-ish year life, I've come to the
       | conclusion that optometry is as much art as it is science. I
       | think every time I've gone to a new optometrist, I've been told
       | something along the lines of "wow, your old prescription is way
       | off" and ended up with a half diopter or more change.
       | 
       | I don't sit at a screen much these days, but for a while when I
       | did, I had a computer prescription pair that I swapped on every
       | day when I sat down at my desk, and swapped off when I went to
       | leave. The distance vision with it was good enough to walk around
       | the office or down the road to lunch, but not good enough to
       | drive to and from the office.
       | 
       | After moving and getting a new optometrist, I got a different
       | main prescription, and was told to try wearing them at the
       | computer instead of swapping. Lo and behold, they worked without
       | causing headaches, which is why I ended up with a computer pair
       | previously.
       | 
       | For all of the time I've been in glasses, I've read books without
       | them.
       | 
       | I'm probably not interesting to talk to, because I'm no longer in
       | front of a computer when I can avoid it and I'm in my 40's so I'm
       | staring down (pun intended) some vision changes in the near
       | future anyway.
       | 
       | Minus 2 or 3 in both eyes with a cylindrical correction as well.
        
         | jfengel wrote:
         | I recently made an optometrist appointment, and was surprised
         | to discover that I could do virtual appointments. And they were
         | a lot easier to get.
         | 
         | I'm skeptical that that can work. I suppose you can administer
         | a basic eye test and get a close-enough prescription, but this
         | is really important and I want to get it exactly right.
         | 
         | I kinda wish I could give it a try, just to see what they can
         | manage to do without all of the tools that an optometrist would
         | apply. But I've got some concerns (which is why I made the
         | appointment) and I'd rather have somebody look closely.
        
           | bluGill wrote:
           | Getting your correct prescription is easy. They have had
           | machines that do that for 30 years. The optometrist might
           | tweak that a little, but the machine is good enough.
           | 
           | What you also need though is someone to look into your eye
           | and machines still don't do everything an optometrist does
           | there. (though there are other machines that do things your
           | optometrist cannot)
        
           | GianFabien wrote:
           | There is no way that some computer or smartphone app can
           | replace optometrist equipment. I have different prescriptions
           | for reading glasses and occupational glasses, the distance
           | difference is about 20" and it does call for different lens.
           | 
           | Furthermore an assessment by an optometrist should also check
           | for glaucoma and macular issues.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | I'd still love to chat for 20 mins if you're up for it. Want to
         | better understand your frustration with the typical optometry
         | process. I'm at jbornhorst [at] gmail.com.
        
       | o_nate wrote:
       | I had a problem with my previous pair of glasses. I think they
       | were defective. I won't say where I got them, but it's a popular
       | chain. My new pair is from a different optometrist. On paper, the
       | exact same prescription, but my vision feels clearer. The new
       | optometrist looked at my old pair and said it looked like the
       | lens were somehow bent. So it can happen.
        
       | otikik wrote:
       | Lassik surgery got rid of all those issues for me. Completely.
       | 
       | 20 minutes of (intense) discomfort. 30 minutes later I was seeing
       | the world in high definition (with sand-in-my eyes, yes. But high
       | definition). I took eyedrops 3 times per day for months. Totally
       | worth it. 20 years later I remain glasses-free.
       | 
       | Granted, I was a mild case: Some myopia (3 and 4 if my memory
       | serves) and .5 astigmatism on each eye. And not everyone is
       | eligible; some people's corneas are too thin to be "sculpted".
       | 
       | Only drawback is that when driving at night the lights from
       | incoming cars and traffic lights have "extra halos" around them.
       | Very minor inconvenience for me and definetly worth it.
        
       | fuomag9 wrote:
       | Yes, sometimes I get a blurry vision in one eye the day after and
       | hurts, cannot focus and cries a lot
       | 
       | It has always never lasted more than one day but it fucks up my
       | day
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | Would love to chat to learn more. I'm at jbornhorst [at]
         | gmail.com
        
       | jtwaleson wrote:
       | I was CTO for an online eye exam for 5 years and have a couple of
       | patents in this area. Happy to chat! Not an ophthalmologist but I
       | know some things and some people. Email is in my profile.
        
       | fudged71 wrote:
       | Yes. I think I need to get checked for BVD
        
       | genewitch wrote:
       | The longer i stay up the blurrier my vision gets, and no pair of
       | glasses completely corrects my vision. i was 25/20 or better in
       | each eye until a couple of years ago, i scratched my left lens
       | somehow and i got wicked poked in the eye by my kid in the right
       | eye, into the socket. I can drive without glasses, but i can't
       | read the sideroad signs on the 8' poles very well.
       | 
       | I originally got my prescription with an Eye-Q device, and had a
       | professional "correct" it.
       | 
       | I cannot read pill bottles and the like without a magnifying
       | glass, and haven't been able to for a little over 2 years, right
       | before the poking and scratching - which is why i originally
       | thought i needed glasses.
       | 
       | my biggest issue with the way prescriptions are decided is the
       | "this one, or this one" and they both look equally crappy, and
       | they say "which looks less crappy" and i just pick randomly,
       | because they're both awful. and then it continues, where it's
       | just blurry from there on out. I don't understand the mechanism
       | to give me glasses that will correct my vision when the device
       | they use to test makes everything look blurry! At least i
       | understand how the Eye-Q device works...
        
         | dmoy wrote:
         | > my biggest issue with the way prescriptions are decided is
         | the "this one, or this one" and they both look equally crappy,
         | and they say "which looks less crappy" and i just pick
         | randomly, because they're both awful. and then it continues,
         | where it's just blurry from there on out.
         | 
         | I had an eye opening (ha) experience once I got pretty deep
         | into 200/300/600 yard high power rifle. I was trying to debug
         | an issue with my 600 yard shots clustering in three places -
         | one cluster right in the middle, another cluster directly left,
         | and a third cluster somewhere else
         | 
         | You set up these camera thingies (https://scattusa.com/) and it
         | shows you an exact trace of what's going on with your aiming,
         | while not using any ammo (recoil hides a lot so you do most
         | practice without ammo).
         | 
         | The left cluster ended up being super obvious: trigger control
         | and problems relaxing, making me physically jump shots over
         | there - you could see lines from the Scatt go right after shot
         | breaks.
         | 
         | The _other_ cluster though was strange as hell. It was just not
         | in the right spot. But it was a singular spot, I had two
         | remaining clusters. There was no movement between middle and
         | other cluster like there was with the left. It just looked like
         | some percentage of the time I aimed at the wrong spot (not
         | _that_ far off, but enough to drop points).
         | 
         | Then one day when lying on the ground for an hour with the
         | Scatt, I started seeing double. I'd blink and it would go away,
         | but by relaxing a lot I could make it go back. The double
         | vision was right where the cluster was.
         | 
         | Then I looked up more info on astigmatism (had >2 diopter
         | astigmatism?), and it turns out it's literally just light
         | refracting into 2+ places instead of 1. And of course the real
         | bullseye people know about this (since in high power honestly
         | we're kinda pretending at it), and they have specialized sights
         | for correcting the axis and magnitude of astigmatism:
         | 
         | https://gehmann.com/en/579-Cylindrical-lens-system-0-2-Spher...
         | 
         | And sure enough, that's like the same thing the optometrist is
         | doing. Except in the context of bullseye you can _physically
         | see the 2 bullseyes floating around an axis and then coming
         | together_.
         | 
         | I get why they do it the way they do it, because your brain
         | corrects the astigmatism and doesn't let you see double
         | normally, but if you can train your eye/brain to kinda
         | dissociate and see double, you can get a pretty exact
         | correction for astigmatism.
         | 
         | Then I got LASIK and my 600 yard scores went from high 170s/
         | low 180s to like 195+. Lol.
        
           | genewitch wrote:
           | the damage to both my eyes was such that my left eye i had a
           | giant ryuken swish around any point source of light (leds on
           | devices, car headlamps, etc). The right eye was like 3 dim
           | blurry copies around a point light source.
           | 
           | Eventually, i was able to count 8 distinct "copies" in my
           | left eye. It made trying to determine what was in front of me
           | at night nearly impossible, and i stopped driving until after
           | the medication they gave me worked.
           | 
           | The Eye-Q device has a red and a green "bar" and those rotate
           | with each "test", you push buttons on the device until you
           | see a yellow bar appear distinct from the red and green bars,
           | then you hit "ok", it rotates, spreads the bars apart, and
           | you start again.
           | 
           | What's interesting is i never failed to get that yellow bar
           | with the eye-q - i'd have expected that to be synonymous with
           | getting a clear image from the optometrist tool - which
           | copilot tells me is called a phoropter. To be silly, i will
           | pronounce that "fuh-rope-ter" and see if anyone notices.
           | 
           | edit; i just checked, right eye i can see 4 lights on my NAS
           | blinking, left eye i see at least 8 without glasses, only 4
           | with. These aren't very bright, so i'll have to remember to
           | test outside at night with a planet or a distant street
           | light. a single copy of a light source isn't as bad as 4 or 8
           | or a giant swish!
           | 
           | 2: I know the doubling you're talking about when looking
           | through sights. There's something about the way parallax
           | works that i don't think it's "tricked" me in the past. I
           | wonder now if i could group, at all?!
        
       | 7e wrote:
       | Yes, one London doctor's unethical self-dealing in ReLEX SMILE
       | left higher order aberrations (HOAs) in my eyes.
        
       | HumblyTossed wrote:
       | A lot of things can affect your vision. Definitely your sleep
       | patterns, your diet, if you get proper exercise. Your eyes are
       | truly a window into your soul (and your body).
        
       | rsoto2 wrote:
       | If the first thing I do in the morning is play on my phone for 20
       | minutes, my eyes are fucked literally the entire day. First thing
       | I do is look out the window for a while or go outside. Even
       | looking across the room is better.
        
       | pkaye wrote:
       | My elderly father-in-law had this issue even with new glasses
       | until I switched him to my own optometrist who identified some
       | eye muscle issue (need to find out exactly what.) They had him
       | consult with an ophthalmologist which said it was not serious.
       | Then the optometrist made additional correction to his
       | prescription and the new glasses were perfect.
        
       | vladvasiliu wrote:
       | I have very slight astigmatism. I don't wear glasses when I ride
       | my motorbike because they're a pain with the helmet. I don't have
       | issues, but when I drive a car, I usually wear them. The
       | difference is that I can see traffic signs much further away,
       | especially at night. I do wear them when working at the computer,
       | since I find they help with eye strain, but I do like using high-
       | definition displays and prefer my text an widgets on the smaller
       | side.
       | 
       | I only ever get blurry vision after very long days in front of
       | the computer without doing anything else (think 12-14 hours). I
       | doubt this is glasses related, since I remember having this issue
       | while studying late as a child, and at the time I had perfect
       | vision (which lasted until my late twenties when my
       | ophthalmologist suggested glasses would be a good idea).
        
       | kps wrote:
       | Some people, including me, have what's commonly called
       | 'astigmatic halation' -- although it's often not due to simple
       | astigmatism, but rather 'higher order abberrations'++ which
       | aren't correctable by glasses.
       | 
       | For this case, dark text on a light background is _much_ better
       | than light on dark. Dark on light, the light halation blends more
       | or less evenly over the dark letter stems, resulting is slightly
       | lower overall contrast but sharp lines. Light on dark, it 's Las
       | Vegas in the rain.
       | 
       | ++ https://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/aberrations/
        
         | joo2024 wrote:
         | oh ive never heard of aberrations? it sounds like i might have
         | it as i get weird shadows and stuff that i cannot put into
         | exact words whenever i try to read black background white text!
         | i will have to talk to my optician thank you
        
           | kps wrote:
           | You can find some images on line that try to describe it. For
           | me it seems a lot like this:
           | https://www.threads.net/@mrmedina/post/CuciL0Uvam9 (But I
           | have to remember that when I look at these, I'm stacking my
           | own vision on top.)
        
       | thastings wrote:
       | Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, I must add this: when we work
       | and focus, especially when using digital screens, we tend to
       | blink a lot less frequently. If tear composition is not good or
       | there are other exacerbating factors (e.g. an AC with high flow),
       | the break-up of the tear film can easily lead to eyestrain and
       | even blurry vision. In such situations, preservative-free
       | artificial tear drops 3-5x a day can lead to pretty good results.
       | In some cases, one needs to try a few, each for a week or two,
       | before finding the correct one. Pro tip: any eye drop can cause
       | discomfort for a few seconds, especially if the dry eye symptoms
       | have persisted for a long time.
       | 
       | Further reading: https://eyewiki.org/Dry_Eye_Syndrome
        
         | convolvatron wrote:
         | just a +1 here. I thought I had serious eye fatigue and focus
         | problems. screwed around with various prescriptions. changed
         | optometrists twice. went to an opthamoloist, and she just
         | said..wow, yours eyes are really dry, use these drops. helped
         | immensely
        
         | jaggederest wrote:
         | There's an interesting new treatment, Miebo in the US, Evotears
         | in other areas. It's basically a tear film reinforcer (pure
         | PFAS!)
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorohexyloctane
         | 
         | It's really eerie how moist it makes your eyes feel after even
         | a few uses. I have definite reservations about instilling
         | megadoses of PFAS directly into my eyes but there's no doubt
         | that it is amazingly effective.
        
           | thastings wrote:
           | Thanks for this! Haven't heard of this agent yet, but it
           | really seems promising.
        
         | walterbell wrote:
         | Yawning helps with tear production.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | +1. Something interesting I've learned - there can sometimes be
         | a .25 - 1 Diopter difference in the Rx depending on one's tear
         | film. (Which intuitively makes sense - it's the surface of the
         | focusing lens, essentially). PF free eye drops have been very
         | helpful for me.
        
         | LexGray wrote:
         | I asked by eye doctor why there was so much mucus around my
         | eyes and after she dumped in a little dye she noted my eyes
         | were almost like sandpaper from not blinking enough.
         | 
         | This seems like something that could have a technical solution
         | beyond just putting liquid in your eyes. I am wary as liquids
         | are sometimes contaminated with bacteria or other substances.
         | Perhaps screens or headbands that trigger blink reactions.
        
       | dmpayton wrote:
       | I was born with congenital bilateral cataracts and had the lenses
       | in both eyes removed as an infant (a condition called Aphakia). I
       | have been set up with monovision since I was very young -- that
       | basically means I'm intentionally far-sighted in one eye and
       | near-sighted in the other so that I use one eye for reading and
       | the other eye for distance.
       | 
       | I wear hard contact lenses most of the time, but I do have
       | glasses. My glasses prescription is around +21/+23 (I would fit
       | right in hanging out with Milhouse Van Houten or Professor Hubert
       | J. Farnsworth), but I only wear them in emergencies because I get
       | headaches and dizziness after 10/15 minutes of wearing them. I
       | mostly keep 'em for the novelty of showing people just how thick
       | my glasses are. 8)
       | 
       | My eyes do get tired after long screen days, resulting in blurry
       | vision and watery eyes. I also get headaches on a somewhat
       | frequent basis.
       | 
       | If that's useful at all, I'd be happy to chat more.
        
         | genewitch wrote:
         | The cold bottle glasses. You get those because they're cheaper
         | these days. You can get the same prescription on a much thinner
         | lens. I did that for my kid. He has a pretty strong
         | prescription in one eye, but his lens is no thicker than mine.
         | 
         | It adds a lot to the cost of the glasses, though. Easily $75 to
         | just get half of the thickness.
        
           | genewitch wrote:
           | someone else reminded me it's called index, and you can get
           | like 1.74 index glasses that are wafer thin.
        
           | bphogan wrote:
           | Where? Even thick ones are super expensive here. Over $250 a
           | lens. I'd gladly pay $75 more for a significantly thinner
           | lens. Point me in the right direction please.
        
         | bphogan wrote:
         | I haven't met too many people who share this condition. Nice to
         | meet you.
        
       | BugsJustFindMe wrote:
       | My ophthalmologist said that the two things to do to prevent
       | glasses headaches are to back off from the "correct" prescription
       | slightly and to use computer glasses designed for focusing 2-3
       | feet away when at the computer rather than the distant target
       | typical for corrective lenses.
       | 
       | Your optometry office can also test your glasses to make sure
       | that they're actually the right prescription. Lensemakers
       | sometimes (often?) do the fabrication slightly wrong.
        
       | alfor wrote:
       | Add incandescent light to your setup. The lack of near infrared
       | is destroying our health and it's most evident with eyes.
       | 
       | Go outside, have incandescent lights.
        
         | thisislife2 wrote:
         | I was thinking about this too - my eyes find the white LED
         | light quite harsh. I've found warm / yellow LED lighting to be
         | more soothing to the eyes.
        
       | harvey9 wrote:
       | If your eyes are straining then you may also have posture issues
       | that can contribute to headaches. I asked a colleague to take a
       | few candid pictures of me at my desk as recommended by the
       | physiotherapist.
        
       | rkhassen9 wrote:
       | I did...then I went to another eye doctor who found that my
       | prescription was off because they were plastic. She recommended
       | glass. Then it was much better
        
       | rajeshp1986 wrote:
       | I am having so many issues with my vision. I don't have a very
       | high prescription(+1.5 on left and +1.25 on my right) but I
       | consulted 3 eye doctors and optometrists last year. I still don't
       | think my prescription is correct as I get headaches and my eyes
       | get tired after few hours. I don't know if there is any better
       | solution around.
        
         | molsongolden wrote:
         | Have you adjusted the lighting around your monitor/office? This
         | seems to have a big impact on my eye strain.
        
           | devenson wrote:
           | a brighter room with light screen (not dark mode) causes
           | smaller pupils and thus better focus.
        
         | GianFabien wrote:
         | You need to specify your _working distance_. I use reading
         | glasses with my laptop and occupational glasses with desktop
         | LCDs. If I accidentally pick up the wrong glasses I notice the
         | less-clear vision.
         | 
         | High display brightness tends to hurt more with glasses than
         | without.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | Would love to chat to learn more. I'm at jbornhorst [at]
         | gmail.com if you have 20 mins to spare.
        
       | MarcelOlsz wrote:
       | Yeah please hit me up. Available whenever. Been dealing with eye
       | strain and headache issues for absolute ages now.
        
       | klaff wrote:
       | One solution I haven't seen mentioned is trifocals. Progressive
       | lenses used to be sold against bifocals and trifocals by saying
       | "no lines" but there are some advantages to the old school
       | designs. In particular, progressive designs tend to end up with
       | an hourglass-shaped field of view[^1] in which the horizontal
       | field of view at mid-distance can be so narrow you can't see your
       | whole monitor screen without pivoting your head. The mid-view
       | area on trifocals is significantly wider than on progressives and
       | I found it much more useful for medium distance work of computer
       | monitor or car instrument panel. In addition, the area of
       | distance vision is much wider on the traditional trifocal, which
       | means you don't have to move your head as much or not at all to
       | see out car side mirrors.
       | 
       | [1] It's been maybe a decade since I researched this - at the
       | time I concluded that the hourglass FOV shape was a result of
       | progressive lens designers not having enough surfaces to play
       | with and was unavoidable if they wanted decent near and far
       | areas, which tends to work well when your presbyopia isn't too
       | bad yet. Maybe since then someone has introduced a different
       | compromise in that space (maybe narrower close window trading for
       | wider middle distance region?) but I'm not aware of it.
        
         | jayknight wrote:
         | I've recently started wearing progressives, previously I was
         | constantly putting on and taking off reading glasses (I'm far
         | sighted). My usable field of view is more funnel shaped than
         | hourglass shaped. At the bottom I can barely get both eyes to
         | focus on something up close at the same time, it's only really
         | wide at the top (wear I don't need much correction, just for
         | slight astigmatism). It's better all around than no glasses or
         | keeping my readers on all the time, but it's not as nice as I
         | had hoped.
        
       | blcArmadillo wrote:
       | I don't have eye strain but have great difficulty getting glasses
       | that work for me. I have a -6 prescription and two out of my last
       | three glasses have had horrible distortion around the edges.
        
         | duffyjp wrote:
         | I used to have that problem too, I was -5.25 or so. The problem
         | was I kept getting upsold on high index lenses. Yes, they are
         | thinner, but the distortion at such a high correction was
         | horrible. Small frames help, but then you have no peripheral
         | vision. I switched to CR-39 and it was so much better. It's
         | also the cheapest possible option which is nice. If you ask for
         | the edges to be polished clear the thickness is less noticeable
         | to others.
         | 
         | I eventually got sick of the coke bottles and got Lasik. I can
         | see better than I ever thought possible, but the recovery was
         | brutal. It was more than two years before I could go a day
         | without Systane Ultra.
        
       | ben_sisko wrote:
       | Before I got my first pair of progressives lenses I saw a lot of
       | conflicting anecdotal accounts. After doing research, the
       | conclusion I came to was simple: I got the very best progressive
       | lens that Lens Crafters sells because the best lens has a much
       | larger intermediate "corridor" size than less expensive
       | progressive lenses. I have had _zero_ issues with my progressive
       | lenses. I forget I even "have" progressive lenses at all!
       | 
       | By asking to talk to only those who have problems, you could be
       | self selecting for a population who may not help you actually
       | solve your problem, even if they mean well.
       | 
       | This is just my experience of course. When I did my initial
       | research, I asked a question on Blind about progressive lenses.
       | Lots of people said they have progressive lenses and they have
       | zero problems.
       | 
       | If I was forced to guess, I would say that some (or maybe even
       | all) of these folks who start talking about the computer
       | glasses......it makes me wonder if they simply under-bought their
       | lenses. Yes glasses are expensive. Getting a better lens will
       | cost more. Yes yes, the Luxotica this and that. I don't care
       | about any of that crap. All I care about is getting the best lens
       | possible and so should you!
       | 
       | Do what I mean!
        
         | jasperry wrote:
         | I thought similarly and went with the most expensive lenses
         | with the largest "corridor" for my first pair of progressives.
         | They're great for up close and distance, but for me so far, the
         | middle distance region for screens is a sham. There's almost no
         | spot where the monitor is both clear and non-straining, and the
         | tiniest shift of my head causes warping or blurring. I've had
         | them redone but it didn't solve the fundamental problem.
         | 
         | Maybe my astigmatism correction is causing problems, though
         | it's a small correction. Do you have any astigmatism in your
         | prescription?
        
           | wvenable wrote:
           | I'm not the person you replied to but the solution, in my
           | opinion, is computer vision lenses. I have progressive lenses
           | and, at my current prescription, I really can't use my
           | computer well with them. It's basically a necessity to use my
           | computer glasses now.
           | 
           | What's great with this lenses for computer use is that
           | anything from screen to close up is clear so they're great
           | for hobby work, etc.
        
         | BugsJustFindMe wrote:
         | > _If I was forced to guess, I would say that some (or maybe
         | even all) of these folks who start talking about the computer
         | glasses_
         | 
         | Not all, because I'm one of them and I think progressive lenses
         | are dumb and won't buy them, but I will buy top of the line
         | distance correction and get it checked to make sure it's
         | correct and then get top of the line computer glasses and make
         | sure that they're correct too. I will get transition lenses
         | though. Those are pretty great (except in a car I guess).
         | 
         | I don't need glasses that sacrifice fov for distance and also
         | for my computer when I can just keep the right glasses with my
         | computer.
        
       | moonlet wrote:
       | Mine used to and I went back to the optometrist a few times about
       | it last year but... turned out I was getting tension headaches
       | and blurry vision working from home not because of screens or my
       | glasses, but because the radon in my home was regularly about 6x
       | the EPA limit. What's solved my headaches has been moving away,
       | not changing my prescription. OP, consider if something else in
       | your environment is bugging you.
        
       | attilakun wrote:
       | I was experiencing discomfort while staring at the computer in my
       | glasses. In the end the solution was quite simple: there was a
       | bend in the frame of my glasses. The second optician straightened
       | the frame manually, so the lenses now line up without much of a
       | curve. After this, my symptoms went away.
        
       | sieve wrote:
       | I have had very high myopia (-9D) for most of my life. Used
       | contacts for nearly a decade starting 30 years ago. Went back to
       | glasses after that. Would have eye strain issues due to 12+ hours
       | on the computer every day.
       | 
       | When I turned 40 and started have issues with presbyopia, I asked
       | my opthalmologist (who also writes my eyeglass prescription)
       | during my biennial checkup why he has been prescribing powers
       | based on how well I can read the tiniest letters on the board
       | when I spend most of my life reading stuff that is two feet away.
       | 
       | He reluctantly suggested that I could use glasses with 1D shaved
       | off the powers in the prescription. I had already done this
       | before I asked him about it. And it has been a big help as the
       | strain disappeared.
       | 
       | Things get blurry at a distance with the new glasses, but it is
       | not as if I am driving at night on the roads or anything.
        
         | YZF wrote:
         | yep. 1d is a rule of thumb. My optometrist is cool with me
         | bringing my laptop and measuring at the distance I feel is best
         | for me.
        
       | instagib wrote:
       | I used an app iOS "eye movement training" for free post
       | concussion.
       | 
       | The slide rule looking eye training is also kind of rough. A
       | string with two or three beads on it. All fun things that could
       | make me puke from doing too much.
        
         | notfed wrote:
         | This is part of what's referred to as "vision therapy".
         | Optometrists would tell you to go to a paid expert---because
         | purportedly some people do it wrong---but IMO you can just
         | YouTube it.
        
           | instagib wrote:
           | I don't think YouTube is the solution. It took me 1 year plus
           | to recover and the iPad part was take home work. Much more
           | intensive in person.
        
       | bdcravens wrote:
       | It can be a result of bad fitting, where the optician doesn't
       | measure your pupillary distance correctly, and doesn't line up
       | the focal point properly with your pupil. Similarly, if you wear
       | your glasses in a manner where it doesn't line up correctly
       | (either because you like the way they look at a different spot on
       | your face, incorrect frame adjustments, etc) you can get the same
       | results.
       | 
       | (Not a subject matter expert, but my wife was an optician for 15+
       | years, so I've picked up a lot via osmosis)
        
       | smrtinsert wrote:
       | I'll give you my summary, yes.
       | 
       | 1. My perscription was out of date by two years and I let it go
       | too long. My eyes struggled to compensate. Got it fixed.
       | 
       | 2. For a while I had two different computer setups at different
       | lengths, that contributed to it, they were different by almost
       | two feet. Made changes to make them about the same distance.
       | 
       | 3. My night computer I used in a dark room with no backlight.
       | Added a single _directed_ light facing the wall behind the
       | monitor which gives it a soft but focused glow around the
       | computer.
       | 
       | 4. I'm PWM sensitive (see associated subreddit). I reduced
       | brightness drastically on my phone and it helped alot with eye
       | exhaustion since my brand is a well known bad source of PWM eye
       | exhaustion and headaches.
       | 
       | After all these changes and a healing time of about a month, I'm
       | back to being able to see individual pixels in text on my
       | screens. My eyes feel like they have de-aged about 10-15 years
       | and eye exhaustion almost never happens now, maybe once in a
       | month and a half, after a few bad nights.
       | 
       | Other stuff that helped, improving sleep and restfulness and
       | getting out and doing exercise more often. Also not using glasses
       | when not needed.
       | 
       | Hope this helps!
        
       | tpoacher wrote:
       | I had what you described. This correlated significantly with
       | reduced sleep / increased stress at work / increased blood
       | pressure. Eye strain and headache would come within a couple of
       | hours.
       | 
       | Some time ago I prioritised sleep, inner calm, strict 9-5 work
       | etc. Both blood pressure got better and eyestrain / headaches
       | went away soon after.
        
       | smoyer wrote:
       | I partially solved this problem by getting bigger (4k) monitors
       | and sitting farther from them. My eyes are now over five feet
       | from my screens. I also also try to follow the 20-20-20-20 rule
       | but need a better timer.
        
       | guywithahat wrote:
       | I've found the best solution to eye strain is just turning down
       | my screen brightness. It's solved all my problems, and I can
       | stare at a screen as long as I need to now
        
         | snowwrestler wrote:
         | Yes, this is a huge issue. The screen brightness should be
         | close to the ambient brightness.
         | 
         | I test by looking around randomly a bit, keeping my screen in
         | my peripheral vision. If it "pops" brightly in my peripheral
         | vision, I know it's too bright.
         | 
         | Or I adjust the other way; if I'm planning use a screen for a
         | while in a dark room, I'll turn on some lights to bring up the
         | ambient level a bit.
        
         | notfed wrote:
         | Or using dark mode. There are chrome extensions that force dark
         | mode on every page.
         | 
         | I personally can't last 1 minute on a white screen, and
         | bringing brightness too low isn't without its issues.
        
       | taosx wrote:
       | My first pair of glasses were glass and even though I suspect the
       | prescription was not correct I never had eye strain and headaches
       | but they shattered in less than a month and then I moved to
       | polycarbonate...it took me a year to find out that the
       | polycarbonate glasses were the ones causing me discomfort and
       | strain. Since then I only get actual glass.
        
       | neogodless wrote:
       | 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...
        
         | notfed wrote:
         | 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.
        
       | _kush wrote:
       | This sounds like an interesting area of research! I built
       | LookAway[1], a break reminder app for Mac that helps reduce
       | screen fatigue by nudging users to take short breaks. A lot of
       | users report feeling less eye strain and headaches after using it
       | regularly. Might be useful data for your research!
       | 
       | [1] https://lookaway.app
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | I use this app! It's amazing. Would love to connect. I'm at
         | jbornhorst [at] gmail [dot] com
        
       | imroot wrote:
       | My optometrist told me that I have a tendency to 'overcompensate'
       | the last time I had my rx checked; I now tell the optometrists
       | that I have a tendency to overcompensate and ask that they dilate
       | my eyes before anything starts and it's really helped me reduce
       | eye strain.
        
         | notfed wrote:
         | Same here: it's called "accommodative excess". And in
         | particular, it won't show up on a vision test.
         | 
         | I always got 20/20 on my vision tests, but kept complaining to
         | different optometrists, and finally found one smart enough to
         | recognize my situation, and now I wear -0.5 lenses. It brought
         | my life out of a very dark place.
        
           | interloxia wrote:
           | That hits a nerve for me. Sure I get 20/20 but if the
           | astigmatism doesn't line up I'm going to have a bad time.
        
       | csomar wrote:
       | As someone who's been wearing glasses for all my life:
       | 
       | 1. Your eyesight is not exactly "fixed". It can vary during the
       | day depending on stress, tiredness, dryness, etc..
       | 
       | 2. A prescription glass can help and does help but it doesn't
       | magically fix your eye sight. If your eyes are strained from
       | lengthy screen usage, the glasses are not going to do anything
       | about that.
       | 
       | 3. There is a possibility that your doctor prescribed you un-
       | correct glasses. It took me a while to find my "correct" range.
        
       | emmelaich wrote:
       | Has anyone used the app http://www.glassesoff.com/ ?
       | 
       | I'd be interested and negative and positive experiences!
        
       | webdever wrote:
       | In the hope that someone else has the same issue as I do and
       | knows a solution - for me, my eyes, I have a double image. It
       | moves. I have 12 pairs of glasses I've gotten from 3 "doctors"
       | and several visits to places like Warby Parker, Jins, ZOff.
       | 
       | In all cases, all the doctor did was stick me in the machine,
       | read off the numbers, give me some glasses. They work 10% of the
       | time. I don't mean one in 10 doctors gave me good glasses. I mean
       | on Tuesday pair #3 works. On Wednesday pair #7 worked at 10am but
       | then stopped working pair #11 worked at 5pm. More often than not,
       | no pairs work.
       | 
       | I feel like I need some kind of adjustable lenses (I'm imagining
       | something steampunk with multiple lenses or a dial so I can dial
       | in what works AT THIS MOMENT) but AFAICT no such thing exists
       | 
       | Does any one else have this issue?
       | 
       | Note: I have no pain
       | 
       | Anecdotes
       | 
       | (1) A doctor in SF put me in the machines, measured my eyes, made
       | me some glasses. I come back a week later and using them is worse
       | than not using them. I tell them they don't work. They get upset
       | and reprimand me. Finally they give in. Make a new appointment. A
       | week later doctor sees me, makes a new prescription, orders
       | glasses, a week later the same, using them is worse then not.
       | 
       | Again they get angry an berate me. They give my some BS about I
       | should take them home and let your eyes get used to them. I
       | respond, if that's the case then the doctor could not make a
       | prescription with his machine because I'd need to take the
       | machine home to "let my eyes get used them" before he'd know if
       | it was working.
       | 
       | Anyway, they finally let me make another appointment. the doctor
       | measures and claims he knows what must have happened (didn't tell
       | me) and orders another pair. A week later I check. These ones are
       | marginally better than than not wearing anything AT THAT MOMENT.
       | It take them home, every time I try to use them they're worse
       | than not using them. (oh, and they apparently charged the eye
       | insurance $999)
       | 
       | (2) My previous SF doctor I had a similar experience in that
       | their glasses didn't work. They didn't berate me. They re-ordered
       | once. I was shy and didn't complain the second time even though
       | they were no good and I never used them.
       | 
       | (3) I've bought lots of glasses at Jins (Japan) - They have fully
       | automated machines for measurement. I've got 2 pairs from them
       | that help the most often, though not always.
       | 
       | (4) Last time I bought glasses I was at ZOff in Japan (because
       | the wait for Jins was too long). The "doctor" their claimed my
       | eyes were fairly good - meaning the images are clear, it's only
       | the double vision that's the issue (letters look like there's a
       | ghost 15% as bright/dark) about 4cm down from the actual letters)
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | Would love to chat. I'm at jbornhorst [at] gmail.com
        
       | kazishariar wrote:
       | Castor oil drops on the eyes, and beard packs.. I guess they call
       | them neck wraps for everyone else.
       | 
       | Also xylitol and salt sinus flushes help, even with those
       | floaters.
        
       | adastra22 wrote:
       | Your prescription might not be correct.
        
       | camhart wrote:
       | Dry eye is a major issue for people who stare at screens. You
       | most likely aren't blinking enough, which causes your eyes to dry
       | out.
       | 
       | Quoting a previous comment of mine
       | (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42796950#42797424)
       | 
       | > A big thing not often spoken about with eye strain is dry eye
       | caused by the lack of blinking due to focusing on screens too
       | close to our face. This is an evolutionary phenomenon--close
       | dangers cause extreme focus without blinking. Extreme focus on
       | close items reduces our blinks. Our eye lids have glands in them
       | that release oils on your eye with each blink. These oils help
       | prevent the watery part of your tears from evaporating. When it
       | evaporates your eyes dry out causing discomfort and potentially
       | pain.
       | 
       | > If you don't blink enough, the oil doesnt get on your eyes and
       | eventually, in extreme cases, the glands can even die. A lack of
       | oil in tears can cause extreme eye fatigue and even pain.
       | 
       | > This is why dry eyes is on the rise. Remember to blink!
       | 
       | > I actually built a little web app to count my blinks. See
       | https://dryeyestuff.com/. Not perfect, just a prototype. 100%
       | free.
        
         | alecco wrote:
         | Also https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/blepharitis/
        
       | Avi-D-coder wrote:
       | Yes, two things helped. Less powerful glasses for closer work and
       | high index lenses.
        
       | phibz wrote:
       | A blue light filter on my lenses helped reduce eye strain.
       | Certainly worth considering and works better/less noticeably than
       | the screen adjusting it's blue and red balance.
       | 
       | I also have caterscts that have made screen time progressively
       | less fun for long periods of time. It's time that I took care of
       | them.
        
       | femto wrote:
       | Get checked for keratosis? Prescription lenses make certain
       | assumption about the shape of your eye. Keratosis means your eye
       | is a slightly wonky shape and doesn't fit the "spherical with
       | cylindrical astigmatism" model, so a lens won't correct your
       | vision properly.
       | 
       | Does the problem persist with contact lenses? Soft contact lenses
       | can do a better job of correcting vision for someone with
       | keratosis, as they conform to the wonky surface of the cornea.
       | 
       | Edit: Just realised you're probably doing market research rather
       | than asking for yourself. Either way, people with keratosis, who
       | don't fit into the box, might be something to consider.
        
         | jimbobimbo wrote:
         | This, but also look into the rigid lenses. Was a game changer
         | for me.
        
       | drekipus wrote:
       | I got new prescription glasses recently and they cause some eye
       | strain.
       | 
       | The prescription is about the same as my old glasses, 12 years
       | apart, perhaps they are dialed in just a little bit too much.
       | 
       | The other thing is that these glasses have blueguard filter,
       | which I have been attributing the eye strain to. I've been
       | looking for a way to remove the blue guard, but I can't and I
       | don't want to spend A$400 on a new pair. :(
        
       | YZF wrote:
       | Yeah. They bug me. Especially as my prescription got stronger
       | over the years. I have computer glasses and I just got a new
       | prescription. I often find myself taking them off and getting
       | closer to the monitor.
       | 
       | I'm gonna look into the lens material as suggested by some of the
       | comments. That sounds promising.
        
       | Jean-Philipe wrote:
       | This is me! I got another set of prescription glasses just for
       | screen time (and reading) which helped. strathausen[at] gmail.com
        
       | nozzlegear wrote:
       | General question for anyone with this visual discomfort/headache
       | problem: do you ever get dizzy or have feelings of vertigo after
       | prolonged computer usage? I've had the usual eye strain and
       | discomfort problems for years, but have recently started feeling
       | dizzy to the point of nausea after a 6-8 hour shift at my
       | computer. I also get these strange, extremely brief bouts of
       | vertigo when I lean forward in certain directions (e.g. brushing
       | my teeth).
       | 
       | I've seen my doctor about it and given my existing
       | tinnitus/pulsatile tinnitus, she diagnosed me with BPPV which
       | sounded reasonable to me. But the epley maneuvers don't do much
       | of anything to help, and given these bouts of dizziness/vertigo
       | are brought on/made worse by screen usage, I'm wondering if it's
       | related to my eyes instead of my ears.
        
         | simianparrot wrote:
         | I do, but I find something surprisingly simple practically
         | alleviates it for me: Take a break from the monitor every ~30
         | minutes, get up and go over to a window, and stare at something
         | far away for at least ~30 seconds -- I count in my head because
         | sometimes I get so into things at work I'll get distracted if I
         | don't. I use a pomodoro timer to remind me, and I rarely have
         | issues anymore.
         | 
         | As I get older and nearing 40 now, I'm realizing the wisdom in
         | all these things I've been told throughout the years but never
         | had to heed before: Take _frequent_ breaks from monitors.
         | Strive to take daily brisk walks (keeps my bp in check). Drink
         | enough plain water (keeps some of my frequent headaches at
         | bay). And so forth.
        
       | hboon wrote:
       | Tell the doctor/optician what you are going to use it for
       | (distance, long hours, environment) and the least they can do is
       | to test the comfort level to match it correctly.
        
       | awruko wrote:
       | here is what works for me - dedicated non progressive glasses,
       | antiglare coating - no high contrast colors, solarized light,
       | wheat background - avoid dark background - redshift for the late
       | work - constant monitor light, no pwm - flicker free environment
       | (some leds are horrible)
        
       | t-3 wrote:
       | I just don't wear my glasses when using backlit screens, and use
       | eink whenever possible. It's waaay better than wearing glasses,
       | and doesn't really reduce my ability to read as the screen isn't
       | on the other side of the room, it's right in front of me.
        
       | 01100011 wrote:
       | About 15 years ago or so I was part of a study for Zeiss
       | wavefront lenses. They used some sort of interferometer to map my
       | vision and generated a set of aspherical lenses based on that.
       | They were absolutely the best pair of glasses I ever owned hands
       | down. No chromatic aberration. Absolutely crystal clear vision.
       | Granted, this was before presbyopia set in. As far as I could
       | tell, they never really rolled out the system for anything but
       | progressive lenses. It's a shame.
       | 
       | Anyway, I've been fighting progressives for about 5 years now. I
       | have 2 pairs that I got a couple years apart but could never
       | bring myself to wear them. Like some others have said, I much
       | prefer having a pair of medium distance computer lenses. They end
       | up being the glasses I wear when I'm at home even when I'm not in
       | front of the computer. I now have to lift them up to see up
       | close, but that's a reasonable compromise to wearing
       | progressives.
       | 
       | I really want to find an optometrist who uses some alternative to
       | the old phoropter system. My prescription is currently a bit
       | "off" and I swear it's because the phoropter system is
       | fundamentally flawed. My eyes adjust and adapt during the test,
       | causing me to misreport the optimal setting. There just isn't
       | enough time in a typical appointment to detect eyestrain or other
       | issues with a particular prescription.
        
         | TylerE wrote:
         | Yes. Another huge problem is that, at least for me, my mind
         | switches into "compeitive" mode and I start squinting, etc.
        
         | walterbell wrote:
         | Zeiss i.Scription seems to be their single-vision wavefront
         | lens, https://www.zeiss.com/vision-care/us/eye-care-
         | professionals/...
         | 
         | $10K MSRP for the optician's profiling equipment,
         | https://navaophthalmic.com/product/i-profiler-plus/
        
           | jbornhorst wrote:
           | I tried this recently and it's the real-deal. Really neat to
           | see a Rx written in .01 Diopter accuracy. Haven't tried the
           | Zeiss lens yet that takes advantage of the resolution info,
           | but plan to. You can find providers with inscription on the
           | the Zeiss website.
        
         | chiph wrote:
         | The problem as I see it is that the diopter system only has a
         | limited number of different profiles. So if you fall in between
         | a diopter (need more than a 2.5 but less than a 2.75, say) the
         | lenses won't be perfect and you'll have eyestrain.
         | 
         | Presbyopia hit me about 10 years ago. Some people I know use
         | all-day contacts for distance vision then wear glasses on top
         | for computer use and reading. I'm considering it.
        
           | bartman wrote:
           | Zeiss i.Scription, linked in a sibling thread, solves the
           | coarse diopter scale as well.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | I'd love to speak with you - would like to learn more about
         | your phoropter comment, and any steps you've taken to mitigate.
         | I'm at jbornhorst [at] gmail.com if you have 20 mins to spare.
        
       | damnever wrote:
       | The long screen time is the main cause. The perfect glasses,
       | light, or monitors might make you feel better in the short term,
       | but the same environment and low activity might still lead to eye
       | strain. I have been struggling with eye strain for a long time.
       | The best practice I've found is to leave the desk and go out for
       | a walk. I have even built an app[1] to help with that.
       | 
       | [1]: https://blog.damnever.com/en/2024/reminding-myself-to-
       | take-a...
        
       | kedarkhand wrote:
       | I don't really know if anybody will read this, but if somebody
       | does and knows what it is, please give me some advice. I see
       | double text, not anything else, only sources of light, like
       | anything on a computer screen. It is like what I am seeing from
       | both of my eyes does not line up correctly. On a completely white
       | background, I see spotches of grey. I have visited two or three
       | doctors and each gave a different prescription, currently I have
       | -1/1 approx, (I don't remember correctly). Man I am only 19,
       | don't want to live like this T.T
        
         | KurSix wrote:
         | Hope you find some relief soon...
        
           | kedarkhand wrote:
           | Thanks man!!
        
         | Darge wrote:
         | Apologies if not helpful: have you tried consulting an AI?
         | 
         | (This is not medical advice)
        
         | hshsiejensjsj wrote:
         | Have you visited ophthalmologist? I'd start there. Your
         | situation sounds too specific for good advice on HN...
        
           | kedarkhand wrote:
           | I have visited two or three of them, but each one just gave a
           | different prescription though turns out I have a little blood
           | clot in one eye due to an accident I had a few years ago and
           | a cataract in the other one, though it is to the side and not
           | directly in the front, so no operation is required for that
           | as of now.
           | 
           | Also, currently a broke college student, so don't really have
           | the money to visit a good ophthalmologist :)
        
         | donatj wrote:
         | That sounds like an astigmatism to me, which basically just
         | means your lens is a little misshapen. I have a pretty bad
         | astigmatism in one eye and have double vision in that eye
         | without glasses, especially so from lit things like screens.
         | 
         | Go to an eye doctor, they can diagnose. It's likely just
         | something as simple as an astigmatism and some glasses should
         | help you with that.
         | 
         | https://www.conshohockeneye.com/why-am-i-seeing-double-visio...
         | 
         | > Astigmatism is one of the most common causes of monocular
         | double vision, and can be easily corrected by glasses or
         | contact lenses.
        
         | dustingetz wrote:
         | early stage keratokonus, if this is true you need to get the
         | corneal crosslinking procedure done asap while you are young as
         | the condition progresses rapidly in your 20s. The double
         | (triple, N-ary) vision can be corrected by special contact
         | lenses. You may need a specialist ophthalmologist for this
         | diagnosis. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keratoconus see
         | "signs and Symptoms" image, and note that is advanced, as a
         | 19yo I recall a single, sharp double image when looking at the
         | moon at night. You can also try lowering an index card in front
         | of your eye and looking across the edge at the moon and seeing
         | if the double image goes away when your eye is partially
         | occluded, this is because the doubling is caused by a physical
         | distortion of your cornea and if you manage to cover the
         | distortion you will see clearly
        
           | kedarkhand wrote:
           | Shit, It did match, looking at the text through the edge of a
           | card does make it clear for me. Although the blurriness is
           | not as extreme as given in the wiki page.
        
             | dustingetz wrote:
             | https://www.reddit.com/r/Keratoconus/ -- but do not freak
             | out, most cases are completely treatable with scleral
             | contact lenses, social media bubbles up the outliers. Next
             | step is ophthalmologist, ask for a corneal topography
             | (photograph and measure the surface shape of your eye w/ a
             | computer) to establish a baseline and monitor for
             | progression. Not all ophthalmologist offices have the
             | corneal topography machine so ask for that on the phone.
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corneal_topography To get a
             | KC diagnosis they will likely want to see progression over
             | time in these topography readings. You want to get this
             | sorted while you are young, the corneal cross-linking
             | procedure will halt the progression of the disease and
             | "lock in" your current vision. I did not get the CXL
             | procedure when I was young (it was still experimental back
             | then) and regret it, my vision is fine with correction but
             | the scleral lenses are a pain and it's unclear if i'll be
             | able to read in bed without lenses in my old age.
        
               | gavinray wrote:
               | I was recently diagnosed with keratoconus, I'm 28.
               | 
               | I'm unable to get CXL for at least a year due to demand.
               | 
               | What sucks the most about the diagnosis is that the
               | opthalmologist explained that there's essentially no
               | treatment, it's progression can only be slowed, and I'll
               | never be able to get LASIK or SMILE.
        
         | owl_vision wrote:
         | I have keratoconus and stigmatism. 8 years ago I stopped
         | wearing glasses since my vision was good enough for laptop,
         | phone and watch but distance was always a problem. I've been
         | doing eye exercises daily for 8 years and my 3D vision returned
         | last year and on more and more days I can read the street signs
         | across the street, as street signs in the US. My prescriptions
         | used to vary between -3.25 and -4.25 with 90% distortion. My
         | laptop vision is better also. Lately, the glare that emanates
         | from the source of light is less and reflections off of glassy
         | surfaces are also less. My first diagnosis was 35 years ago and
         | over the years various surgeries and fixes were offered. Over
         | the years, technology improves, so I feel I wait. Prognosis so
         | far is manageable. Best of luck to you.
        
       | blakblakarak wrote:
       | My monitor (a Samsung ultrawide thing) has an option to reduce
       | contrast (I think it's called 'eye saver mode') that makes a
       | massive difference. I don't use for gaming but for work it's made
       | a massive difference to my comfort.
        
       | sameermanek wrote:
       | I have a strange vision problem these days. I dont feel that my
       | eye power is constant, rather, it feels like a range
       | 
       | Some days i can see clearly through my prescription lenses while
       | on others i dont. I also have gone for eye power checkups on
       | different days and indeed my prescription is different.
       | 
       | On my last visit i also got my axial length checked. Will do the
       | same on my next visit and see wtf is going on in there
       | 
       | Ive got all sort of test btw Fundus examination Corneal thickness
       | Corneal shape Topography
       | 
       | So far no one knows whats happening
        
         | y1n0 wrote:
         | I have the same problem. My eye doctor suggested moisturizing
         | eye drops. I was skeptical, my eyes didn't feel dry, but it has
         | made a big difference.
        
       | donatj wrote:
       | So I've just got a pretty major astigmatism in one eye, very
       | minor in the other, without any other distortions. I went thirty
       | years without corrective lenses and I think this kind of caused
       | and reinforced my lazy eye.
       | 
       | With simple prescription lenses for the astigmatism my eyes are
       | much better at looking at the same place, but at the end a long
       | day I have a ton of trouble getting them to agree on where to
       | look and often end up just closing my right eye.
        
       | alsetmusic wrote:
       | I got a new pair of glasses last week after seven years with the
       | previous pair. The first thirty minutes felt strange until my
       | brain adjusted and made it "normal." When I haven't been wearing
       | them and put them on (including my old prescription), I look out
       | a window at distant objects before looking at the computer
       | screen. This improves my focus close to me.
        
       | maxibenner wrote:
       | Yes. For the past few years I've been feeling like something
       | isn't quite right with my glasses. It feels like the focus never
       | quite aligns, there is an oh so subtle yellow tint, and I
       | generally feel somewhat restrained looking through a frame.
       | Recently, assuming that it might just have to do with low quality
       | lenses, I purchased a larger frame and the highest quality lenses
       | my local optician offers. No improvement. I'm wondering if it
       | might just be a mental thing that I get too caught up in.
        
         | jbornhorst wrote:
         | Would love to chat to learn more if you're up for it.
         | Jbornhorst [at] gmail.com
        
       | porphyra wrote:
       | Wearing glasses for over 20 years, I am super bugged by chromatic
       | aberrations when looking anywhere except straight ahead. I chose
       | lenses with the highest Abbe number that I could find but there
       | are still chromatic aberrations. I might finally go get surgery
       | just to get rid of this horrible aspect of glasses.
       | 
       | Also most eye correction technology like glasses don't fix the
       | higher order aberrations, that can cause halos and other
       | artifacts. Only wavefront scleral contact lenses do that, but
       | they seem scary so I haven't tried them.
        
       | crimsonnoodle58 wrote:
       | Yes if I don't ask them to do these two things I have issues;
       | 
       | - Don't make my stigmatism stronger, keep it the same
       | 
       | - Don't change my eye center/focal point, keep it the center of
       | the lens
        
       | NalNezumi wrote:
       | When I went to check my sight after repeatedly getting blurry
       | vision/eye strain after working (mostly reading on laptop) they
       | said they couldn't find any issue with my sight. One of the eye
       | were a bit worse than the other, with trouble with distant
       | object, but not to the level of needing glasses.
       | 
       | But I insisted and made (very weak) glasses with blue-light
       | filter included, and these days I use it when I need to read
       | stuff on the screen (I get _zero_ strain or blurry vision when I
       | play games, in same setup, oddly enough). It helps a lot but they
       | 're not perfect, sometimes I still get blurry vision after a
       | while.
       | 
       | Later on I experimented with lightning condition, and realized
       | that my eyestrain often correlated with bad lightning (cafe, when
       | remote work) and stress/bad sleep. Better lightning also help,
       | but not perfectly. It's also odd because since childhood I've
       | been sensitive to light. Walking outdoors in the summer, I can't
       | keep my eyes fully open.
        
       | jbornhorst wrote:
       | OP here - wow, didn't expect this to resonate so strongly! Thanks
       | to everyone who's commented or reached out directly.
       | 
       | I'm currently lining up interviews to learn more about your
       | experiences. If you've commented here but haven't connected yet,
       | feel free to email me at: jbornhorst [at] gmail [dot] com.
       | 
       | I'm especially interested if you've experienced persistent
       | discomfort even after updating your prescription professionally
       | (headaches, eye strain, subtle blur, etc.). Pure research, no
       | selling. Your insights will help shape a better solution.
       | 
       | I'll do my best to reply promptly to everyone. Thanks again, and
       | please keep the stories coming!
        
       | yencabulator wrote:
       | My ophthalmologist made the point that blurry eyes after lots of
       | computer time is commonly from dry eyes, not blinking enough, and
       | recommended TheraTears.
        
         | ajolly wrote:
         | I found eye drops using trehalose to be significantly nicer,
         | feel a lot better for my eyes. I know ivizia and thea thealoz
         | use it. TheraTears were decent, but not as nice
        
       | truetreesfreed wrote:
       | It's called "getting old". Seriously: your eye lenses lose the
       | ability to adjust so there is no longer a "correct prescription"
       | just frustration. I'm in my late 50s and it started almost
       | exactly at 50.
        
       | teslabox wrote:
       | About four years ago I went to the Costco optometrist for a
       | contact lens prescription. The O.D. said I was at the age where
       | people start needing reading glasses, but I passed on those. It
       | was the strongest prescription I'd ever had. After the
       | appointment I put the contacts in the case and wore my weak
       | glasses for the rest of the week. The day before the check
       | appointment I put them back on my eyes - everything was crystal
       | clear, but I couldn't read my phone.
       | 
       | The check appointment was with the practice's other O.D. I said
       | the prescription would've been great for sniper shooting, but I
       | just needed something to read the computer monitor. "You want an
       | intermediate-range prescription." It was better, but still too
       | strong. I used the curvature measurement to order my own
       | prescription from one of the online contact stores. Three years
       | later I upped my prescription by a quarter diopter.
       | 
       | Contact pro-tip: I use my contacts for 1.5 to 2x the rated time.
       | Daily contacts can't be used for more than a day. 2 week contacts
       | are good for at least 3 weeks. I've found my monthly contacts are
       | good for at least 6 weeks. I've started using the hydrogen
       | peroxide contact solutions:
       | https://clearcaresolution.myalcon.com/
       | 
       | > even though your prescription is "correct"?
       | 
       | Most people have a range of prescriptions that they find
       | acceptable. Some people's visual mechanism only 'likes' a
       | specific prescription that might not correct them to 20/20.
       | _Developmental Optometry_ is a sub-specialty of optometry that
       | considers more than acuity. This is a overview:
       | https://www.theottoolbox.com/behavioral-optometrist-developm...
       | 
       | My contacts correct to 20/40 or 20/50, which are good enough for
       | most tasks.
        
       | notnullorvoid wrote:
       | I was told I have astigmatism by multiple optometrist, but I'm
       | convinced they aren't right. I have clear double image (not
       | blurring) in one eye shifted by ~1% or so down and to the left,
       | no prescription has ever corrected it in the slightest (some have
       | made it worse). These days I just live with it and don't wear
       | glasses. I've contemplated getting eye surgery if I was confident
       | that the issue would be corrected.
        
       | bentcorner wrote:
       | I'm nearsighted, and I use reading glasses at my age, but when I
       | was younger and used the same glasses everywhere, occasionally my
       | left eye would just give up focusing and I'd have blurry vision
       | for an hour or two. It'd be pretty disruptive to my work and I'd
       | have to take a break. It'd occur a few times a year.
       | 
       | These days I still use screens a lot but I don't recall the last
       | instance of this happening, and I think my reading glasses have
       | largely solved this problem for me.
        
       | stevebmark wrote:
       | I don't know what your intentions or hypothesis are, but this is
       | a dangerous place to be a novice in. Eye health is misunderstood
       | and most people are ignorant of the basics. If you don't know
       | what emmetropization is, if you don't know who Bates is, and if
       | you don't know why Bates is a quack, then I strongly discourage
       | you from experimenting with user surveys.
        
         | augusto-moura wrote:
         | I mean, what are the risks of the surveys? I don't think it
         | will be dangerous to survey people without the full knowledge.
         | Better to be curious about it than do nothing. Discouraging low
         | risk research just for being pendantic sounds a like toxic
         | gatekeeping.
        
           | serial_dev wrote:
           | It really is just unnecessary and arrogant gate keeping.
           | 
           | OP for now just wants to talk to people, I assume to
           | understand their issues, what they tried, what makes it
           | better and what makes it worse for them. Talking to people
           | volunteering for a call is not dangerous.
           | 
           | For all we know, OP will not see any pattern that fits their
           | hypothesis and leaves it at that.
        
       | mrg3_2013 wrote:
       | Not specific to this, but if you can solve issue with progressive
       | lenses, you have a big market. Progressive lens sucks. They
       | simply do not work and causes too much strain and practically
       | unusable for daily operations. What would be great if there's a
       | digital way where the lens changes depending on your activity.
       | Driving, then go to long vision. In front of laptop - change to
       | reading glass etc. I will be your customer if you solve this
        
       | westmeal wrote:
       | For me absolutely not so maybe try to discuss more with your
       | optometrist .
        
       | ajolly wrote:
       | Turns out I'm extremely sensitive to small changes in
       | astigmatism. I got LASIK done at one of the best places in the
       | country, still have better than 20/20 vision (corrected) but
       | enough of a difference in astigmatism that I still wear glasses.
        
       | ranprieur wrote:
       | When I was young, every time I got a 20-20 prescription, my eyes
       | got worse. When I stopped going to the optometrist, my eyes
       | stopped getting worse. Now I wear glasses that only correct to
       | around 20-40. I take them off for reading, and I have weaker
       | glasses for the computer screen. Supposedly I have astigmatism
       | but I use no astigmatism correction and can see fine.
        
       | imvetri wrote:
       | It happened few days before. I'm wearing specs on my forehead.
       | It's more comforting than wearing for eyes.
        
       | astrostl wrote:
       | I went decades thinking that all prescriptions were imperfect
       | until I started getting age-related presbyopia (reduced close
       | focus abilities) and sought perfect correction or a clear reason
       | that it couldn't happen.
       | 
       | The diagnosis: keratoconus (thinning and ultimately misshapen
       | cornea). The prescription: highly-corrected rigid scleral contact
       | lenses. The result: radical. I would describe my uncorrected
       | vision as 480p, glasses as 1080p, and scleral contacts as 4k.
       | 
       | The scleral prescription makes my medium and far vision great
       | while _further_ limiting my ability to focus closely. I
       | experimented with  "monovision" to have one near-focused eye and
       | one far-focused eye with my brain sorting out the difference, but
       | I could tell that it resulted in lower resolution. I optimize by
       | sticking with the medium-far prescription and wearing 1.5x
       | reading glasses for anything within a few feet. It works great.
       | 
       | If you're in a similar boat, I can't recommend it enough to get
       | checked for keratoconus. To get that you'll want to find a place
       | that can do a corneal tomographic scan with a device like a
       | Pentacam. Oh, and try to not rub your eyes and tell your kids the
       | same because it's believed to be a major cause. I used to do it
       | for _fun_ as a kid to make colors while I was bored.
        
       | agastyadsav wrote:
       | I have a strange problem with my left eye. I wake up every day
       | with either burning or itching sensation only in left eye. Feels
       | better after washing my face and pain either goes away after
       | couple of hours or resurfaces back at the end of the day. I spend
       | around 10-12 hours either staring at my laptop, phone or monitor
       | on a weekday.
       | 
       | Went to ophthalmologists and doctors and they keep claiming that
       | everything is alright. Still not able to figure out what is
       | wrong.
        
       | accountcreated2 wrote:
       | Look up esophoria and exophoria and convergence insufficiency.
       | Optician online and review of optometry are credible sources.
        
       | accountcreated2 wrote:
       | look up convergence insufficiency, esp phoria and exophoria.
       | Opticianonline and review of optometry are credible sources
        
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