Ask HN: How to deal with eye strain and skin damage from computer monitors? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to deal with eye strain and skin damage from computer monitors?

4 pointsadamdegas5 comments

For some reason, I can work all day from my Lenovo Ideapad 310 laptop, but, as soon as I moved my desktop and ASUS monitors into the room, I've been unable to work for more than an hour before eye strain kicks in.

I've been left with a choice: neck/back strain from the laptop or premature aging/eye strain/lack of sleep from the desktop. I've chosen the neck/back strain. I would like to be able to use the desktop because it's far faster, has far more RAM, etc.

One of the desktop monitors is ASUS PB258Q. I can't ID the other one, but it's also ASUS. I wake up tired after using the desktop monitors, but it also coincides with my antihistamine intake due to spring/summer season. I seem to be developing dark brown "age spots" after I wake up if I use the desktop monitors for a prolonged length of time (more than two hours), and I think it's the combination of the monitors making me tired + the antihistamines making me more tired. I can't tell if the dark brown spots will go away or if they're permanent. They seem to be developing under the eyes and on my nose. They're not baggy eyes; they're smaller dark brown spots around the same region.

I've read that monitors can reflect the sunlight's UV rays that causes skin damage. (The window is behind me.) I've just moved the desktop monitors out. I've tried every setting on the ASUS monitors: blue light filter (on every level), adjust brightness, adjust contrast, and so on.

Would love to be able to work from my desktop. Anyone else dealt with similar issues that can offer advice? Thank you!

You are connecting so many dots that don't exist.

Go to a dermatologist / your doctor about the spots. Don't mention anything about using the computer.

The monitor isn't making you tired. Antihistamines will, 1st gen ones will.

Yes, reflective things tend to reflect things, not just monitors. The blue light filter... Is to reduce... Blue light made by... What is displayed on your screen... It's not some magic that just... Filters reflected light.... If the sun shines through your window and into your monitor does the reflected beam strike you in any way? Even if it does glass windows just kind of block mostly all the UVB and some of the UVA radiation without any window treatment such as low-e... Maybe your skin is just changing... Cuz... That happens... People age...

1st gen antihistamines also cause issues with memory and perception and guess what else? Difficulty adjusting to changes in light levels due to things they do pharmacologically to the eye. If you are taking something like Benadryl I suggest you switch to Claritin or Zyrtec... Stuff like that.

Set up your work environment. Cut down on the monitor brightness. Lower it all the way. Lower the ambient room lighting. Have just a tiny bit of back lighting behind your monitor. Lowering the total brightness of everything will make it less straining in general because you won't be shooting tons of lumens straight into your eyes causing them to constrict. It can be easy to think to make things brighter... For example. Maybe you keep your room bright and you have the sun coming in the window shining on the monitor so you raise the brightness on that to counter the sun. Just compounding things really. Instead block the sun with better curtains, move the computer desk and do the rest of what I suggested.

For the eye strain, the general rule of thumb is the 20-20-20 method: every 20 minutes, look away from the monitor at something at least 20 feet away from you, and keep looking to that distance for about 20 seconds. Basically just give your eyes a break from having to focus up-close. The good thing about eye strain is that, while it can be annoying or painful, it's temporary; the old wive's tale about eye strain leading to vision impairment isn't founded on any actual medical evidence. So the frequent short breaks should help a lot.

I haven't heard about monitors contributing to skin damage before, but if it's truly due to a reflection of the sunlight from your window, then no monitor settings will help -- you may be able to "drown out" visible light by flooding it with brighter light from the monitor, but that doesn't actually remove the reflected light, so any UV light reflecting from it will always be reflecting no matter what your pixels are doing. You have a few options to deal with that:

1. Move your monitor so it's at a different angle from the window, so it doesn't reflect the sun directly at you.

2. Get a different monitor with a less reflective screen (those plastic LCD screens, for instance, are less reflective than glass ones).

3. Tint your windows against UV. You can buy window tinting specifically designed for that; just make sure it blocks the full UV spectrum (UV A and UV B) if you want to remove all the effects.

Although I'm skeptical it's a reflection issue; I would wager that the problem is simply that you've moved so that you're now sitting directly in front of the window for longer periods of time than you used to. In which case, the window tint is probably your best bet.

Seconded on refresh rates. The higher the refresh rate the easier it is on your eyes. For me anything under 60hz kills me, which isn’t a problem any more but back in the CGA / EGA monitor days it was a serious issue. Take breaks to stretch the eyes as was suggested above.

If the window is behind you it may be decreasing the contrast which also leads to eye strain. I would suggest trying with the shades drawn for a few days to see if that helps.

I doubt the monitor is contributing to skin issues. Depending on your age they also just develop naturally and suddenly. I’ve got a few myself :-(

have you checked the refresh rates?

NFI about "reflected UV," I'd definitely suggest you keep looking for other sources of skin issues.

60 Hz. Forgot to mention it in original post. Strangely, my laptop monitor is also 60 Hz, but I only have issues with the desktop monitor.

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