Glasses for Photophobia???
Hi,
I've got terrible photophobia. I'm ALMOST at the point of controlling Chronic Daily Migraine with a combo of Topomax, Cymbalta, (I have fibromyalgia & chronic depression), and Botox every 3 months. It's been a very tough road the past 18 months reaching the proper dosage of meds, but I'm almost joyful to be nearly migraine-free 75% of the time during the past 10 days. But the photophobia is my worst trigger now. I'm due to see my eye doc next week, and am wondering what the glasses and computer glare devices are doing for those of you using them. I have RX glasses and would need to have something I can put an RX into whatever glasses I wear, but also want some kind of anti-glare device on my computer. We run a small home business and I'm online most of the time. Also, what about iPad protection? And iPhone? My iPad is attached to my hip. I adore my iPad....I know, I know...I wear my sunglasses for all of these things, so I'm trying my best...I also wear them for TV and in the movies. We're film buffs...Any suggestions are anxiously appreciated! TIA you wonderful group of people who I read and respect so many of my days!
I use the FL-41 tint for glasses and it is the only way I'm able to use the computer without a migraine. This tint is more helpful than sunglasses for most people because it filters the wavelengths of light that is most problematic for people with migraine. I don't have to use any anti-glare coating or filter when I wear FL-41 lenses.
For any LED-based screen (which are most of them), you should avoid dimming the screen. LEDs can't actually be dimmed, so they pulse on and off really quickly to simulate dimming. This pulsing is faster than your eye can see, but the hyper-reactive migraine brain can still pick it up. It's best to keep your brightness at the highest setting, then adjust the white balance to make it appear dimmer.
Some other things to be aware of:
Wearing sunglasses indoors can actually make you more sensitive to light because your eyes adapt to being in the dark. It's the same effect as when you leave a bright movie theater, but it happens whenever you're exposed to light.
Polarized lenses are best for glare in general, but they interfere with the polarization on computer and device screens, often making the screens unreadable.
I hope this helps!
Kerrie
I've been wearing Uvex Vermillion lenses to reduce glare from fluorescent lighting / computer monitors for nearly a month now and believe they are providing some limited relief from the lighting glare at work. I looked at the FL-41 tint lenses but they're not available in the ANSI rating I need for work. Unfortunately Uvex does not offer these lenses in bifocal style so I am using Optx 20/20 Hydrotac Stick-On Bifocal Lenses which work but are not as good as rigid bifocal lenses but they work well enough on the plant floor. In our maintenance office I usually just use clear reading glasses while using the computer. If you don't need ANSI rated impact resistant safety glasses these probably aren't the best option for you.
