Please help!! Light sensitivity

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DryGuy70

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Joined
Dec 21, 2023
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Hi,
I got very ill about 11 years ago which left me with a rubbish disease called Fibromyalgia. One of the many symptoms is light sensitivity, I can't look at anything LED so no newer tvs, laptops and newer smartphones, so if I go to the shops I have to wear Stevie wonders blackout glasses.
I'm still having to use my prehistoric 10 year old LG G3 stylus D690 but so many different apps won't work on it. Does anyone know if there's a newer model phones with the same screen technology? Im presuming it's the flicker of the light that affects me??? No doctor has said why I'm light sensitive, but I'm fine with incandescent light & sunlight doesn't bother me? Just LED & the worst is fluorescent.
Thanks for any replies & help
Steve👍👍
 
talk to your eye doc about Avulux Lenses or something like them. its the flicker and those are supposed to help. also, dont hide in the dark/wear sunglasses all the time, it will only make it worse.

ps: welcome to [H]!!
 
I also have fibromyalgia.

Not, perhaps, as light sensitive as you.

You can set the gamma for most LCD's to be dimmer. You can also pick ones with less nits than more. Careful reads of specs and all can get you a workable screen.

Of the three I have right now only one gets bright enough to bother me and then only sometimes. (Like looking straight at dawn as the sun comes up in some games).
 
Welcome Steve,

since this is a fairly rare question about a topic less researched please understand that some things may be "hit and miss".

The practical part:
The mentioned phone uses an IPS Panel.

The last deacde produced variations that you should make yourself a little comfortable with:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPS_panel


The clarification part:
Every LED tv is a LCD.
Not every LCD uses LEDs.

So what your eyes are comfortable with is the older LCD technology before everything switched to LED?

That would be CCFL?
https://blog.1000bulbs.com/home/cfl-vs-ccfl


The theoretical part:

You want to see well with low light.

So the agile usecase definition would be?:

As: a very ligth sensitive user
i want: a display with flicker free? high contrast ratio even on low brightness levels
so that: i can comfortably watch


Tech which may or may not be bad:
pulse width modulation

Stamps of approval that should be looked for:
flicker free
 
Have you tried looking at an iPhone that a friend has or at the Apple Store? iOS has a few good options built in to reduce eye strain like night mode and also a feature that dims flashing bright areas in video if you need it.
 
Might even be able to get a sheet of neutral density film to cover an lcd. This will bring the brightness down. Sometimes just turning a monitor brightness down can introduce a more noticeable flicker so maybe this could aide slightly.
 
Thank you all for reaching out, all good info. Turning the brightness down doesn't help so it must be in the light like the pulse/ flicker?? I nearly died because of fluorescent lighting in a older hospital, it made my blood pressure go through the roof 230s. Think it does something to my thyroid?? Coz my neck swells up??
Doctors haven't helped, not sure the believe me, or believes the condition is real. SHILLS &.philistines
I've bought 5 or more new phones that I thought had the same screen technology that my LGg3 has IPS LCD, but all has made me ill....must be the backlight?
I'm lost but need a different phone & don't want to have to wear my blackout glasses all the time.
Thanks again all 👍👍
 
Carlyle2020 said:
Welcome Steve,

since this is a fairly rare question about a topic less researched please understand that some things may be "hit and miss".

The practical part:
The mentioned phone uses an IPS Panel.

The last deacde produced variations that you should make yourself a little comfortable with:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPS_panel


The clarification part:
Every LED tv is a LCD.
Not every LCD uses LEDs.

So what your eyes are comfortable with is the older LCD technology before everything switched to LED?

That would be CCFL?
https://blog.1000bulbs.com/home/cfl-vs-ccfl


The theoretical part:

You want to see well with low light.

So the agile usecase definition would be?:

As: a very ligth sensitive user
i want: a display with flicker free? high contrast ratio even on low brightness levels
so that: i can comfortably watch


Tech which may or may not be bad:
pulse width modulation

Stamps of approval that should be looked for:
flicker free
Click to expand...
Hi there, yes the TFT or LCD tv (pre LEd) I'm fine with....not sure about plasma tvs, never come across them.
I've never meet anyone who understands the condition that understands different lights that are emitted by tvs and smartphones.
So here I am
Thanks mate I appreciate your time
Steve👍👍
 
Mchart said:
Have you tried looking at an iPhone that a friend has or at the Apple Store? iOS has a few good options built in to reduce eye strain like night mode and also a feature that dims flashing bright areas in video if you need it.
Click to expand...
Hi there, yes my wifey has had iPhones but they do the same even with the eyestrain on.
 
pendragon1 said:
talk to your eye doc about Avulux Lenses or something like them. its the flicker and those are supposed to help. also, dont hide in the dark/wear sunglasses all the time, it will only make it worse.

ps: welcome to [H]!!
Click to expand...
Hi there, Thanks for your reply, even my optician looked confused when I told him??
Im lost...Think I'll be forever Roy Orbison clone because everything is LED.
Fortunately I got about 100 old skool incandescent bulbs in supply
 
Most/many modern screens (both phones and monitors) use flicker-free backlight dimming as far as I know. Same thing with any modern fluorescent lighting fixture (using high frequency drivers). So given your description I think the problem is not flickering (although you could certainly be sensitive to that as well).

The only thing I can think of is that maybe your eyes/brain doesn't like the spectral distribution of common LED backlights. I believe many have rather large peak(s), at the blue end and sometimes green & red as well. Many older fluorescents also have horrible spectral distribution (that's why colors might look wrong under fluorescent lighting). Compare that to the sun and incandescent bulbs which are both blackbody radiators (they produce light via heat) and thus have very smooth spectral distributions.

If I were you I'd experiment with stage lighting color films (called "gels") placed in front of the screens. They are cheap and readily available. Maybe start with some weaker yellow variant, to filter out some of the blue light? E.g. first web search hit: https://www.stagelightingstore.com/4515-CalColor-15-Yellow (no experience with either the seller nor the specific film).
 
Also, if you want to experiment with LED light bulbs, look for high-CRI ones (CRI = Color Rendering Index). Make sure they are at least CRI 90. CRI 100 would be perfect, meaning they have the same spectral distribution as a blackbody radiator (within the visible spectrum), but such LEDs don't exist today unfortunately. But CRI 90 bulbs are relatively easy to find (e.g. some IKEA "Solhetta" and "Ledare"), and I've seem some LED modules with claimed CRI 95+. So maybe we'll get there with bulbs as well, in time.
 
Last edited:
bitnick said:
Most/many modern screens (both phones and monitors) use flicker-free backlight dimming as far as I know. Same thing with any modern fluorescent lighting fixture (using high frequency drivers). So given your description I think the problem is not flickering (although you could certainly be sensitive to that as well).

The only thing I can think of is that maybe your eyes/brain doesn't like the spectral distribution of common LED backlights. I believe many have rather large peak(s), at the blue end and sometimes green & red as well. Many older fluorescents also have horrible spectral distribution (that's why colors might look wrong under fluorescent lighting). Compare that to the sun and incandescent bulbs which are both blackbody radiators (they produce light via heat) and thus have very smooth spectral distributions.

If I were you I'd experiment with stage lighting color films (called "gels") placed in front of the screens. They are cheap and readily available. Maybe start with some weaker yellow variant, to filter out some of the blue light? E.g. first web search hit: https://www.stagelightingstore.com/4515-CalColor-15-Yellow (no experience with either the seller nor the specific film).
Click to expand...
Thank you so much Bitnick, you have spoke more sense than any doctor in 11 years of having this unbelievably horrible & painful disease.
I never used to be like this, completely normal now I'm hypersensitive to a crisp, a mint, a fizzy drink, a Chinese meal, a kfc
All make me violently ill MSG, Soy, Dairy, gelatin, aspartame, clothes hurt my skin etc etc
Life is hard.
Thanks again
Stephen.
I'll research the stagelighting now 👍👍
 
I'm sorry to hear about your condition.

I have ME/CFS myself, which includes fibromyalgia-like symptoms, has unknown root cause and no diagnostic tests. So I know very well what it's like to get that blank look from doctors who typically get very uncomfortable when they cannot lean on what they learned as students, and have no time or inclination to look up the latest scientific results. Many prefer to ignore the issues or explain it away as psychological, which is very unfortunate - and often damaging! If there's no treatment, then say so! (While acknowledging the symptoms.) If they don't have the competence and don't want to learn, then remit to someone else!

More money is finding its way into research on post-infectious disease now due to long covid, which is quite similar to ME/CFS. So at least I have some hope of learning more about the mechanisms behind my issues in the future. I hope you get to figure out what's wrong in time, as well!
 
Damn guy, that sucks, if you aren't already try taking herbs and supplements with the symptoms.
Stay away from the homeopathic stuff, thing that come from the vibrational energy voodoo, that's pure BS. just like the ear candles.
 
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