Light sensitivity

[david2404]

Hello,

I'm looking for some recommendations for eyewear that will help with light sensitivity indoors. I work in an office and I'm super sensitive to fluorescent lighting the brightness from computer screens - especially at night. I have to limit myself to an hour or so of computer a day. I even find talking to people (and focusing on them) difficult if there is a bright light in the background. Going to the cinema or tv are impossible.

So i'm looking for a suggestion for eyewear or which colour tint will allow me to cut out the brightness and glare but still see in low light conditions.Are there any success stories out there. I've already tried a grey tint without much success and my opthamologist has recommended brown tints (as i have blue eyes) but i wanted to get some advice from here first before investing in yet another pair of glasses!

thx

David

ps. i found an interesting link about light sensitivity if anyone is interested.

http://www.causeof.org/sensitivity.htm

[hkgcomet]

I also want to open this topic.

Every day after sunset or around 6:00pm, I would have fluorescent lighting on. (I don't go out any at night, but for outdoor everywhere is fluorescent lighting, so as a modern people it can't be avoid.) Light bulb is better as it is not a frequency flashing light.

At this time, dark half-circle will occur under both eye.
Whatever I rest for whole day, I would change to monster at night, haven't find out method to overcome. The use of sunglasses is for covering ugly eye much more than block the light...

Are all of you got bad status on night time?

I really afriad to go any where at night...I am so sad and lose confidence to know new friends...

[kitty]

I find that an amber tinted lens helps with light sensitivity. I have purchased amber tinted "night vision" glasses, they are not overly dark and I find I can wear them during the day as well as while driving at night

[Judy]

On the subject of light sensitivity, for Christmas I took 15 16" 8mm family movie films and made DVDs for my family for a Christmas present. The movies started with 1957 at which time I was 3 years old. My father and brother and I started watching them right after Christmas and I was squinting into the camera from day one of the movies, rolling my eyes up into the back of my head, rubbing my eyes, etc. You can tell my eyes were very bothered (as was I) way back then. So now I have been reminded of this and my eyes are DEFINITELY VERY SENSITIVE TO LIGHT! Anyway, just had to share! I might have to try Lucy's idea of amber tinted glasses soon, sounds like a good plan...

[DCRdryeye]

I've developed severe light sensitivity over the past week and read a past thread that it's part of the progression of dry eye disease? I couldn't bare to watch TV last night because of the glare.
When I close my eyes to go to sleep, the pain gets worse....strange. I've had to take pain meds to get comfortable enough to sleep.
Then again there are avenues I haven't explored like plugs and scerals. We don't have Restasis and Lacriserts in Australia and too expensive to import.
Amber tinted glasses sound good, however I have to look people in the eye for my work (which I've put on hold due to this problem) which involves consulting. It's impersonal to look at clients through glasses, I feel like I'm being rude.

[kitty]

I've developed severe light sensitivity over the past week and read a past thread that it's part of the progression of dry eye disease? I couldn't bare to watch TV last night because of the glare.
When I close my eyes to go to sleep, the pain gets worse....strange. I've had to take pain meds to get comfortable enough to sleep.
Then again there are avenues I haven't explored like plugs and scerals. We don't have Restasis and Lacriserts in Australia and too expensive to import.
Amber tinted glasses sound good, however I have to look people in the eye for my work (which I've put on hold due to this problem) which involves consulting. It's impersonal to look at clients through glasses, I feel like I'm being rude.

The amber tinted lenses I have are not dark at all. If you wear prescription glasses, you might consider an amber tint to them along with anti-glare coating. It does not take much to cut the glare.

[DCRdryeye]

The amber tinted lenses I have are not dark at all. If you wear prescription glasses, you might consider an amber tint to them along with anti-glare coating. It does not take much to cut the glare.

Yes actually I just logged in to edit that last post I thought about it and realized what you were recommending. Sorry for the confusion, I forgot to say I'm using moisture chamber glasses. I find it impersonal to look at people through these type of glasses because they are very bulky. I'm using a dark Wiley X ink which look good. However, with a clearer lense the foam can be seen and they look more "goggle" like. I recently had Panoptx done as a prescription 24/7 lense and they look so goggly I'm embarrased to wear them.

[Lucy]

DCR, I have Panoptx goggles with RX lens, and Transition lens. They are bulky and look "dorky." I love them, though. I understand the part where you wouldn't want to wear them at work, in public etc. I'm retired so I have more time out of the public eye. The Transition lens do not clear up completely indoors and you're hidden behind foggy looking lens. When in the sun, they don't look bad though.

If you wear the goggles when you're at home, just outdoors, doing things where you're not around others---this will help you during the time you wear them. Also, for me, there is a cumulative effect. The goggles let me do some things I would not be able to do without them. I went for a long motorcycle ride last fall on my brother-in-laws Harley. I hope you can find something that will work for you. Lucy

PS, I'm wearing my Panoptx in my photo. I was in Fla when this was taken and there is sun in Florida. Michigan has no sun, so they are mostly the weird looking foggy thing.

[DCRdryeye]

Thanks lucy...yes I've been wearing the Panoptx RX transition glasses whilst on my own, eg: driving the car at night. I also use the onion goggles whilst using the computer for many hours at home (although light sensitivity has recently become a problem). The moisture chamber glasses reduce the amount of times I place drops/gels in my eyes. They have made life easier.
I can relate to you being on the Harley with your Panoptx...I've also been able to withstand strong winds with my Wiley X glasses
Early January I'm trying temporary plugs, then February I have an appointment to check out scleral lenses. If scleral lenses work for me, I'll probably do what kitty suggested and wear normal glasses with an amber tint (however the sclerals may also help with the light sensitivity). I'm excited but not getting my hopes up.

[david2404]

hi, thx for keeping this thread going. It'd be great to have a list of options to keep working through until we all find something - or at least to know that we haven't hit a dead end yet. For me i'm going to have to do a bit more research into tinted or polarized contact lenses or even Synergeyes (can these be tinted?). I live in the uk so i'll have to find out what's available. An amber tint in my glasses also seems a popular choice. I've tried on amber sunglasses in a shop and they seem to be a good way to block the glare but still have good visibility.

I'm curious to know if anyone els gets headaches from bright lights? I work in an office with fluorescent lights overhead. I have had them removed directly above me and it makes a big difference.

I found this thread all about sensitivity to fluorescent lights. It's not only specific to eyes as a lot of people seem to react with their whole body. It's long but if you keep reading there's some interesting stuff. Mostly people have found the best solution is wearing sunglasses but there's some other good tips like putting a lamp next to your work station to combat the fluorescent light etc. I haven't tried this yet but if i do i'll let you know. Here's the link...

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thre..._sees_the.html

DCR, I'm really curious to know how your sclerals visit goes. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[mclaire66]

i also have light sensitivity to flourescent and computer light, it was my main and only symptom for many months until i went to an eye dr who said it was from contact lens irritation, i've been out of contacts for about two months now and tried all kinds of drops and now my eyes are also painful and dry and inflamed when they weren't before even in contacts which i still find odd--i had the flourescents above my desk at work turned out too and it does help but it's still a struggle to get through the day at work, i told the dr and he told me it's not the computer light but the conditions at work, although i have trouble looking at the computer too long at home too (or at my phone or ipod screen) i also find i can't use steriod drops during the day at work because they make me more light sensitive to those particular kinds of light--i'm hoping once all this clears up the light sensitivity will fade, it's odd because i keep reading light sensitivity is due to irritation of the cornea, but i'm told my cornea is fine--now i'm developing eyelid inflammation which is making the light sensitivity worse as well...

thanks for the links and for the recommendation of amber tint (when i asked the dr if there was anything i could do to make looking the computer more comfortable he said no)

[DCRdryeye]

thanks for the links David...I don't get headaches from light sensitivity. Interestingly, awhile ago, I used to get headaches from ongoing computer use due to eye strain. However I've been taking some supplements that I contribute to keeping the headaches away. I use Magnesium for stress and CoQ10 for my occasional irregular heart rhythm. Whilst I don't take them specifically to reduce headaches, they have both shown through studies to help (perhaps google "headaches CoQ10", Magnesium, etc").
It's interesting, I have normal corneas and still sensitive to light. It may-be an unstable tear film, poor tear quality that reflects light differently to the back of the retina causing pain. So I think the answer is to treat the problem rather than using a bandaid solution by getting rid of flourescent lights, wearing glasses, etc. Of course, we got no choice at this stage.

mclaire - have you had a schirmers test done to diagnose dry eye? because from your post it seems like irritation led to inflammation then it snow balled from there. Do you have allergies? May I suggest high dose fish oils (over 1,000mg EPA) daily. I've started on fish oils about a month ago and it's helped. There are also other safe natural supplements that reduce inflammation.

[mclaire66]

they did the schirmer test the third time i went in but that was after my eyes were irritated by all the drops they gave me, they were drier by then than they were initially, also i don't know if this makes any difference but i remember that day they did that test i was crying a lot in the morning and and wondered if that dried my eyes out (dr said that wouldn't matter)--anyway it came back positive for dry eye but he didn't tell me the scores--i do get mild seasonal allergies, i thought maybe the swollen eyelids were from the preservatives in my drops so i switched to preservative free, i did try fish oil but it bothered my stomach a lot so i'm on flaxseed oil and i'm trying the hot compresses--it's so frustrating because i never realized how many factors contribute to dry eye and how many different causes there can be and the dr hasn't explained anything to me, i have a prescription for restasis but am afraid to start fully on that because i'm afraid it will only irritate things further...

[hkgcomet]

hi, thx for keeping this thread going. It'd be great to have a list of options to keep working through until we all find something - or at least to know that we haven't hit a dead end yet. For me i'm going to have to do a bit more research into tinted or polarized contact lenses or even Synergeyes (can these be tinted?). I live in the uk so i'll have to find out what's available. An amber tint in my glasses also seems a popular choice. I've tried on amber sunglasses in a shop and they seem to be a good way to block the glare but still have good visibility.

I'm curious to know if anyone els gets headaches from bright lights? I work in an office with fluorescent lights overhead. I have had them removed directly above me and it makes a big difference.

I found this thread all about sensitivity to fluorescent lights. It's not only specific to eyes as a lot of people seem to react with their whole body. It's long but if you keep reading there's some interesting stuff. Mostly people have found the best solution is wearing sunglasses but there's some other good tips like putting a lamp next to your work station to combat the fluorescent light etc. I haven't tried this yet but if i do i'll let you know. Here's the link...

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thre..._sees_the.html

DCR, I'm really curious to know how your sclerals visit goes. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Thanks david for that good article. It just tell me lots of people are same as me. I think I am sensitive to fluorescent light before dry eye, every morning I making up in front of mirror under fluorecent light, my eye getting worse and changed very fast to ugly.

I haven't change all the light in my home, because there's fluoresent light everywhere outside, if I can't overcome it, I will continue to lose social life.

[mclaire66]

does anyone find that the opposite happens, now that you have dry eye symptoms and are sensitive to light, when you are now in light sensitive situations do you feel that the light itself now makes dryness worse? i can be having an okay day but once i get to work and am under the flourescents and looking at the computer all day my eyes are red and dry, my dr said it's because i'm not blinking looking at the computer but i do and i take breaks and use drops, i'm convinced it's just that kind of light that's bothering me, we had a meeting and i was away from the computer for an hour sitting under flourescents and my eyes dried out just as much--a point made in that business week article is interesting, that flourescent bulbs drain vitamin a from our eyes, it's interesting to read it can affect people negatively in so many ways, i started feeling like i was crazy but the more people i talk to about it (even those without dry eye) the more i find that are sensitive to that particular type of light...