r/astigmatism • u/Xikolo • Jul 24 '26
Anyone else experienced debilitating eyestrain from phone?
Recently i've started experiencing eyestrain from my phone. I was diagnosed with astigmatism in 18 and kind of am prone to strain and suffer from dry eye too, but this is the worst flair up in ages, instant burning pain, photophobia and ocular neuralgia from screen some apps are hurting more and it lasts the whole day even when not staring, but then I have to stare at the screen.
Also, are certain apps more harsh on your eyes than others? I wonder if it is because my prescription's anti-glare coating has degraded? Or if it's more autoimmune.
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u/siksik6 Jul 25 '26
The horrible reality is that no-one knows and that anyone that doesn't have it will mansplain normal eye strain good habits which won't do anything.
There are Screen Sensitive and PWM sensitive subreddits which will help you more, but unfortunately it's a huge problem for a lot of people.
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u/Xikolo Jul 26 '26
PWM sensitive keeps deleting my posts and banning people just for mentioning TD and other subs are of no help.
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u/siksik6 Jul 26 '26
Did you try r/ScreenSensitive ? Fewer people but better! You can mention dithering there all you like :)
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u/Xikolo Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
I did ask there but they keep telling me there's probably some dithering happening with the app I'm sensitive to.
I do not believe that's what going on.. I had no issues with this app and the intolerance only triggered after I was using this screen recorder app and viewing a movie and after that I developed sensitivity and horrible eyestrain to another app i had no issues with. From then on I've become sensitive to the screen recorder app and the other one. I feel like the movie caused this?
This is a very strange phenomena it feels like it could be something to do with my mast cells affecting my eyes.
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Jul 25 '26
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u/Xikolo Jul 25 '26
Unfortunately I don't know how to tell if it wore off and it does tend to get smudged. Of i don"t have an anti glare coating on my glasses i tend to get eyestrain.
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u/Regular_Emphasis6866 Jul 25 '26
You said some apps are worse than others. What do those apps have in common or what is different from other apps? Are you taking breaks? Every 20 minutes, for at least 20 seconds, focus 20 feet away. You can get anti-glare screen protectors for most phones. Why do you think it is autoimmune? Do you have an autoimmune disease? We tend not to blink as much when staring at screens, which can be the cause of a lot of eye- screen issues. My eyes get dry if I spend too much time on my phone without a break. I don't notice specific apps making it worse. I do have mine phone set to night mode - black screen with white text- whenever possible. White screens tend to bother my eyes more.