Ask HN: How are you taking care of you eyes?

I bought an IPS monitor when they were really expensive, and ate an insane amount of carrots, both raw and cooked. This helped, but the strain was still there, occasionally accompanied by mild headaches.

Eventually, at an age of 30+, I decided to give up full time desk work (also because I was anxious about "sacrificing my body to the computer"). Now I'm a forestry worker on most days: avoiding logging, but cutting brush and planting trees. 5-7 hours in the woods almost every day, currently surrounded by lots of snow and the trees' green palette (which is good for the eyes, isn't it?). Hacking and other creative computer work has become something that I do on the side when I have time or physical/mental energy, or when I wish and manage to escape from our kids.

Am I happier? It's sometimes difficult to switch to mental work from physical labor, staying motivated in my mental pursuits etc. The pay would be poor to most standards. But all in all -- happier, hell yes! Eyestrain is gone completely. Heck, I've occasionally totally forgotten to put glasses on while driving a car, which is something I'd noticed right away during the office work days. I haven't tested my eyesight for years, but I do feel there has been a remarkable change to the better. I happened to shoot some hoops just this weekend after more than a year, and it was an absolute joy: indoor lighting of the court didn't annoy my eyes as it usually does (this used to be a major issue when I was younger), and I made shots with a surprisingly good percentage in spite of not wearing contact lenses.

It's also important to note that my eating habits have probably changed quite a bit since middle school / early to late 20s. I've always loved vegetables, but for now, I've almost completely cut of all processed sweets: cocoa, chocolate, you name it. All the bad stuff I used to love -- but, as cocoa contains caffeine, it's actually bringing fluids out of the body, doesn't it? Based on this, I occasionally think that a big part of my earlier eyestrain issues might have been too big an amount of cocoa-based "foods". Dehydration, basically. Haven't done any research on that, though, so it might as well be BS.

All in all: we're animals from nature, so I suppose the best one could do to his or her eyes is try to spend as much time outdoors (or in wilderness, if you ever can) as possible. And drink a lot of plain water, this also seems to have a positive influence. Or, if you're lucky enough to have other issues with your life as well (like I did), you may also consider changing your job for something that has the "no eyestrain" batteries included by design. :)

I used to have occasional symptoms of dry eyes without knowing what it was. It all changed after I got LASEK (a bit different from LASIK, but the ultimate goal is the same) about 2 years ago. It's not clear whether LASEK contributed to my condition, or whether it was a coincidence, but my life changed afterwards.

I used to have days when I was physically unable to look at a computer screen, due to the discomfort (burning sensation) and photophobia (light from the screen would look really uncomfortable).

Right now I've adjusted my life and equipment to make living and work more bearable/comfortable. I also got a bit of medical advice/help.

Posting a short summary of what helped and what didn't, in case someone else will find it useful. I've tried so many things, so I might have omitted something.

What helped:

- Changing displays: now I'm using BenQ EL2870U (I went through multiple "eye-care" and non-eye-care displays before I settled on this one). I'm using low-blue-light configuration in the display as well as in macOS. I'm really sensitive to displays with PWM (e.g. 16" MBP). On my OnePlus 7T Pro I switched to DC dimming, which seemed to help too.

- NuLids (https://nulids.com/). It's a "massager" for the eyelids, which stimulates meibomian glands and cleans the eye lids. Both the device and the tips (I boil them and reuse them several times) are a bit pricey but I did feel the difference.

- Sleep position: make sure your eyes aren't pressing on the pillow, as this can prevent them from closing or create unnecessary pressure on the eye/eyelids.

- E-Ink displays: these are good to look at, but hard to do useful work on due to poor refresh rate. I'm using them for reading only (I have Dasung 13.3" monitor and Boox Max Lumi).

- Natural light in the room. There seems to be something about natural light that makes my eyes feel more comfortable when in front of a screen.

- Preservative-free eye drops targeting the lipid tear part (only for short-term relief, but sometimes that's needed).

Not sure whether it helped:

- IRPL (E-Eye). I'll have the 4th treatment soon, but it's hard too judge this because of other parallel things I'm doing (like NuLids). My eyes feel quite good for several hours after a treatment, but then they're back to the usual state.

- Diet (Omega 3, Vitamin A, vegetables, etc)

What didn't help:

- Optimel Manuka Honey Eye Drops/Gel. Some people said that these were revolutionary for them, but my eyes at first felt better and then I got horrible swelling and redness.

- Blue light glasses (I've tried ~10 different brands, including the more expensive and "science-based" ones (Gunnar, BLUblox).

What I want to try:

- Omega 3 supplements with higher EPA/DHA ratio (like PRN Dry Eye Omega)

- Autologous serum eye drops. I can't find anyone who can produce them in my country, but I'm thinking about getting them from abroad.

- Computer glasses for relaxing eye muscles (as mentioned in other comments).

When you do this, you will need to dim the ambient light.

I now work for hours without feeling tired.