Advice: Avoid bright screens in the dark (eye floaters)

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

Around ten years ago or so I noticed eye floaters for the first in my life when waiting for the bus in summer.
In recent years they have become more noticable. I notice them basically every day, usually when there is sun light (it does not have to be very bright) and sometimes even on screens. I see eye doctors from time to time to make sure the retina and eye pressure are normal. The latest doctor claimed it came from using bright screens in the dark - I have played games in the dark for decades (to save electricity) and the screen was often bright (to see the game more clearly). I hadn't connected the dots until fairly recently. Of course, I had heard about not reading/playing in the dark but I always thought it was related to eye sight, not eye floater. The eye doctors also told me to take breaks when working/playing with a screen in general and make sure the eyes aren't dry.

You can share your thoughts. I hope you take the advice seriously.
If you don't know what I'm talking about: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/eye-floaters/symptoms-causes/syc-20372346

 

[Mythical]

I would advise looking into this application https://justgetflux.com/ called f.lux in addition to everything else you stated. It helps reduce eyestrain in general for computer use, and has settings to finick how and where to change your screen. It's also easy to use

 

[guisadop]

Thanks for the heads up.
It's a shame that you acquired this condition. though I personally have never really felt comfortable using bright screens in the dark - I usually keep the brightness as low as possible, otherwise my eyes start aching really quickly.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

I was personally (and still am; if it weren't for the eye floaters) quite tolerant of bright screen. It took me only a few seconds to adjust, even if there is a sudden bright screen in a dark room.

@MythicalData: Thanks for the advice.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Eh, I get floaters sometimes, they go away.

I would advise looking into this application https://justgetflux.com/ called f.lux in addition to everything else you stated. It helps reduce eyestrain in general for computer use, and has settings to finick how and where to change your screen. It's also easy to use

Windows 10 has this feature built in

 

[Mythical]

Eh, I get floaters sometimes, they go away.

Windows 10 has this feature built in

huh never realized since they call it a night light lol. Both seem good

 

[qqq1]

I've had them since I can remember as a little kid. I've never been told they were any kind of a problem.

 

[nwiifletcher]

What about VR? It is basically looking straight at a bright screen.

 

[Deleted User]

I've had them since I can remember as a little kid. I've never been told they were any kind of a problem.

Same. Until now I didn’t know what they’re called or that they can become a problem. I used to play video games with a back lit screen in the dark but in the long term it hasn’t had any significant effect on my eyesight. These days I prefer to game with the light on because it feels more comfortable.

 

[the_randomizer]

Floaters are 9/10 completely harmless. You can get YAG laser surgery for it, but it's costly. I wouldn't worry about them.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

I noticed an increase of them.
How often do you guys see them?
The worst is looking at snow on a sunny day.

The VR aspect is an interesting question; never tried VR.

@leafeon34: You really find it more comfortable with other light sources? I find them distracting but I do it anyway now because I don't want it to get worse.

 

[yuyuyup]

I used to have many very noticeable floaters, now I rarely see them except in sunlight just my 2 cents

 

[Mythical]

It seems to be normal as long as you aren't having vision problems or having an increase in amount/frequency.
Some highly professional google searching seems to show that certain things slightly liquefy/increase the liquidiness of parts of your eyeball, causing shadows over your vision
(the floaters). I also could have sworn it could have something to do with tiny blood clots as well, but I couldn't find anything like that :?
That's all just odd, but I guess it makes sense if you think about eye anatomy

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

...certain things slightly liquefy/increase the liquidiness...

for example?

I used to have many very noticeable floaters, now I rarely see them except in sunlight just my 2 cents

Are you aware of any changes to the way you watch/play/work regarding screens?

 

[FAST6191]

I am not seeing anything on the mayo clinic link (they are a trustable source on this one) tying it to screens. Neither I am seeing it on https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/floaters-and-flashes-in-the-eyes/ or https://nei.nih.gov/health/floaters/floaters
I added screens to the search and all I got back was people suggesting filters for screens if the contrast or something is making them more apparent. https://healthcare.utah.edu/the-scope/shows.php?shows=0_amlzx94d being one such thing, as far as quality of the source goes I hope the university of utah (apparently the leading state university, and a research based one at that) did indeed get a proper ophthalmologist on for that one.

To that end I have to question your advice here. Going further reading at night (possibly under the covers with a torch) sending your eyes bad has been an old wives tale since before I was a young lad and this seems like a minor variation on the theme. Do you have studies that do the whole cause and effect thing as most good sources I found just go through trauma, inflammation and ageing -- not even anything that might be remotely tied to screen use.

 

[sarkwalvein]

I hope it gets better for you.

Regarding bright screens in a dim room, my eyes never were able to stand up, I get the weirdest things from eye-strain to sudden double vision in those conditions. Because of this if my room is dim I turn the TV brightness to 0 (that on my TV is still too bright TBH). I guess I will not get any new problem (but well, my eyes seem fucked up already).

In the other hand, never got any problem by reading from paper on low light conditions, for me it is as simple as to avoid way too high brightness differences, if the light is dim the light reflected on paper is also dim so no problem.

 

[jurassicplayer]

Your doctor was bullshitting you.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

Your doctor was bullshitting you.

Could you elaborate?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Do you have studies that do the whole cause and effect thing as most good sources I found just go through trauma, inflammation and ageing -- not even anything that might be remotely tied to screen use.

I couldn't find studies about it. I'm not sure whether the doctor checked inflammation. He applied eye drops hat widened my pupils (everything was blurry for a while) and checked the back of my eyes while I looked into a light as well as in all four directions. He said there was nothing unusual and I shouldn't worry. I'm in my 30s so I doubt it is a cause; however, maybe people whose eyes are bad (shortsighted) "age" quicker with regards to their eyes.

Reducing the amount of "blue" on the laptop screen actually feels relaxing. But I will have to observe it for a longer period of time to see if it really disappears (at least on screens; as I said, sun light is worse)[/QUOTE]

 

[FAST6191]

Your doctor was bullshitting you.

Might not go that far. We are playing possibly third hand* with non medics in the mix through multiple possibly very different languages at this point. The difference between "screens may make you see more of the floaters" (high contrast and lit plain backgrounds and all that) and "screens will cause you to have more of the floaters" is fairly subtle, swap it out floaters for migraines or something like that and at this point they are almost identical in meaning.

*always a tricky thing. I am not without some medical training/skills/knowledge but fucked if I would go up to my doctor and try to recount my history at medic level as much as "that sounds about right" as they are reading what they have of my history back to me. That is before we deal with misheards, misquotes and misunderstandings of what was said -- if people can't recount simple instructions for computer stuff without utterly butchering it then I have no hope of them doing complicated medical stuff. Or the classic was it hypo or hyper... if you chuck the wrong one in front of thermia and treat for that and someone is gonna die. Did you have tachycardia or bradycardia?

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

Very insightful.
Now that you say it, he did not clearly say that it is the cause of the eye floaters. But he warned me multiple times that it will get worse if I don't change my habbit of using bright screens in the dark. But then... shouldn't I also avoid the sun?
Seems like I should check back with more doctors.