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

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

#61

Post by walterbell »

convolvatron wrote: post #35
bmurphy1976 wrote: post #8

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 cris…

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

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.

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

#62

Post by gezellig »

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.

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

#63

Post by bmurphy1976 »

walterbell wrote: post #59
bmurphy1976 wrote: post #8

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 cris…

> 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 Transit…

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!

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

#64

Post by antisthenes »

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.

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

#65

Post by m3047 »

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.

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

#66

Post by bmurphy1976 »

jolmg wrote: post #19
Night_Thastus wrote: post #5

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 ey…

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,…

>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.

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

#68

Post by tlb »

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.

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

#70

Post by dlandis »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #5

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 ey…

"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.

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