Ask HN: How do you take care of your vision? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you take care of your vision?

24 pointselboru17 comments

As a developer I can easily spend 12 hours a day in front of a screen (Laptop, phone, tablet, TV). I try to follow the 20-20-20 rule (http://lifehacker.com/5591835/reduce-computer-caused-eye-strain-with-the-20-20-20-rule).

But sometimes it's just not possible to stop working and look at the wall for 20 seconds. How do you take care of your vision?

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I asked my eye doctor about this a couple months ago. For context, I was getting an updated prescription and have no major health or vision problems, so I would assume the advice is probably applicable for other generally healthy people in their late 20s. I also spend about 90% of my waking time on computers, which I mentioned to him, thinking that I might need to do something special to take care of my eyes. He told me that he thinks computer glasses are marketing fluff, and suggested that if my eyes are feeling strained or dry, I could just use regular moisturizing eyedrops. Besides that, he suggested maintaining generally good physical health and a healthy diet.

Disclaimer: if your eyes are actually bothering you in some specific way, please see an eye doctor. Or if you have mild hypochondria, just see a doctor and ask; there's no harm in asking. Otherwise, if you're young and generally healthy and have nothing wrong with your eyes that you can discern, there's probably nothing specifically about your eyes to be particularly concerned about even if you use a computer 12 hours a day. Your cardiovascular health, on the other hand, would probably be something to watch.

Preventative eyewear.

I have 20/20 vision, but I have a $10 pair of reading glasses (+1 diopter) that I will put on when I feel eye strain setting in. This effectively moves the focal point of my monitor further away (close to the edge of my focal range), allowing/forcing my eyes to focus differently. After a few hours, when eye strain again sets in, I remove the glasses (hence moving the focal point back closer to me).

I've been doing this the past five years, during which I spend most of my waking hours in front of a monitor. My vision has not noticeably deteriorated, nor do I experience persistent eye strain.

I think that could be a great solution for me. My vision gets tired when I don't change my focal point after a long period of time.

What actual conclusive evidence is there of permanent eye damage from use of display devices?

I've worked tens of thousands of hours over the course of 30 years on everything from old, beat up, blurry television sets to crappy monochrome LCD and CRT displays to the latest and greatest of today, and have never once had eye problems beyond brief periods of eye strain on some devices when I went more than 10 hours at a stretch. That's on top of my childhood sitting close to the TV. I always wondered why it was bad to sit close to the TV, and yet OK to spend 8 hours less than 2 feet away from monitors based on the same CRT technology. Is there some secret, damaging radiation that only reaches a few feet from the television? And did we fail to fix it with the introduction of many new display technologies?

In my personal experience, my vision has decreased since I started working as a developer (4 years ago from today). I don't think the display by itself causes damage (at least I haven't found a trustful source claiming radiation or something else damages your vision). But I've noticed my vision gets tired after I keep staring at something for a long period of time, it could be my laptop's screen, phone, tablet or a book.

Flux https://justgetflux.com/ or redshift http://jonls.dk/redshift/.

Try setting it to the smallest temperature possible for 30 minutes and then turn it off to see the difference. I have it on all the time (though people working with colors might not be able to use it)

I am nearsighted, so I need glasses to see far. Anything over about a foot away starts to get blurry.

But I have a second pair of "computer" glasses--basically, these are de-rated versions of my normal glasses. With these glasses, I can still see about 10-20 feet away but then things get blurry. The theory is because the correction is less severe, these cause less eye strain when I'm looking at a computer all day.

A comfortable workstation with a relatively dim, high-quality IPS monitor and a desk lamp behind it diffusing on the wall, f.lux, and "computer/reading" glasses with a separate prescription.

If you spend that much time using an electronic device (particularly a computer), you can generally afford to do better than the abysmal ergonomics of a laptop.

I take care of vision like I do the rest of me - with reasonable precautions. Sure, there is eyestrain, but is it any worse than people that used to stay up into the night reading by the fireside? Probably not. Take blink breaks. Stretch while you are at it, doesn't take more than a minute or two a few times an hour. Nothing complicated, definitely doable. Once you have that habit, it is easier to expand so that it is second nature even when you are busy. Don't worry so much about the sometimes if your general work habit is healthy, unless those sometimes happen with some regularity.

In addition, if you find you have signs of eye strain (headaches, among others), get your vision checked. Even a small irregularity can cause eye strain and this is a simple fix.

I turn the brightness on my monitors way down and use redshift on computers and lux on my phone. (The color temperature thing is more about improving sleep than ocular health, though.)

I also use slightly less powerful (by ~.25) contact lenses than I otherwise would. When my eyes get tired in the evening, I switch to glasses.

Oh, and I almost forgot: I also recently started using a chrome extension called "Hacker Vision" that basically makes all web pages reverse-video, so there's even less light hitting my eyes. It takes a little getting used-to, but I quite like it now. I hacked it up locally to preserve color and just invert value, instead of doing a straight rgb invert.

Avoid working in a dark room, as more light from monitor will reach the retina.

Blue light at night: http://m.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/no-ipads-in-...

Edit: http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2014/04/23/7-things-can-righ...

I don't much. I do wish that when I was younger I had been more particular about wearing sunglasses, for now, as I approach 60, I have the prospect of cataract surgery in the next several years. So: if you are out in the sun, you should have at least a hat or cap to shade your eyes, and preferably sunglasses.

(Yes, I know that this is not what you are talking about. But in my 20s I was occasionally teased for my pallor and my want of enthusiasm for beaches etc. Yet my eyes suffered.)

* Use artificial tears (over the counter from med stores) about twice a day. This reduces dryness because of lack of blinking a lot.

* Use eye lid wipes (over the counter in med stores) before sleep and after sleep. These unclogs the tear ducts and reduces dryness.

* Have good lighting.

* Wear contact lenses instead of glasses. My optometrist told me that they help blinking much more than glasses. Use daily disposable contact lenses - the new ones feel very fresh and moisturizes eyes more.

* Shower every day :). This again unclogs tear ducts.

I use a very low-power pair of reading glasses, though I don't need them. I have an optometrist friend (retired) who recommended it to reduce eyestrain.

I also use "20 cubed", a chrome app, to remind me to do eye breaks every 20 minutes. My optometrist friend also recommended eye breaks, nearly the same thing that 20 cubed recommends.

I don't. After a design career wrecked my distance vision (and warcraft wrecked my brother's), I asked my optometrist point blank: "will screen use ever damage my eyes to a point that glasses can't fix?"

The answer was no, so I don't sweat it.

1. f.lux https://justgetflux.com

2. I build a tool if I want to read some news:

https://getscroll.com/

If you already have glasses (and don't wear contacts), you can go to your optometrist and ask for a tweaked, reduced strength prescription for glasses to wear while working/staring at a screen all day.

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