Did coding make you wear glasses?

I had no vision issues ever in my life, until recently...

I noticed code become less "visible" over time, the picture become blurry, so I zoomed my code editor to 105% and that was immediately better and more pleasant but still not perfect.

I kept using 105% for long time but in recent time I often had to pull my head closer to the monitor, eyes started to itch and "bleed" after prolonged time staring at monitor so I started to worry...

I decided to visit eye specialist and after doing the usual vision test he told me my diopter is negative -0.75 and so I ended up buying glasses with diopter + "blue protect" glass which is a special glass to deflect blue light emitted from monitors.

My vision is now so much better, I can see stuff 100-200 meters away crystal clear which I was not able before, and ofc. coding become much more pleasant, eye kapilare don't bleed any more, my eyes don't itch any more after prolonged time staring at monitor thanks to blue protect glass and fixed diopter.

Now I'm certain my vision got harmed thanks to staring at monitor, there is no other explanation.

How many of you guys have same problem? are you like me having vision issues without really knowing it? do you ignore it like I did?

I will say, don't ignore this stuff because it's serious, you can get blue protect glasses even if your diopter is 0, this way your eyes likely will never suffer.
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Hi malibor

Darken your screen and save your eyes.

Just go to https://darkreader.org/ and install on browser.
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forgottencoder this extension if awesome!

I do use dark mode where ever possible but this is better, even wikipedia for which I didn't know black theme exist is now black, heck, even this site is black wow.

Thanks a lot for sharing!
I needed glasses long before I started coding, near sighted. Back when I was around 8.

I became so near sighted the only way I could do anything without glasses was REALLY CLOSE UP. Read a book? Hold it about 3 inches from my nose.

One eye I was classified as 20:1750, the other 20:2375. I could see at 20 feet as well as what most people could see things at 1,750 and 2,375 feet.

About 10 years ago I had both lenses replaced due to cataracts. Now I can do a lot of things without glasses, but close up detail work suffers a bit.

I still use glasses from time to time, "readers" help so I don't have to hold a book almost at arm's length.

Hi malibor

That extension works for every site you go. And you can turn it on and off.
Hi,

Vision problems may be purely related to age, things can go down hill after age 40. Looking at a screen all day probably doesn't help.

I used to have long wear contact lenses. Wear them 24/7 for a month, then throw them away. But my vision deteriorated, so I tried 1 lens which did long, the other short range (The brain sorts out what it wants to see), but I didn't like it, so now I wear multi focal glasses full time.

If your vision is stable, it may be worth considering laser surgery. It's expensive, but balance against how much one spends over the years on glasses and / or contact lenses. Your optometrist can advise.

Furry Guy wrote:
I still use glasses from time to time, "readers" help so I don't have to hold a book almost at arm's length.


<comedy>
My uncle places the newspaper on the floor and reads it standing up :+)
</comedy>

I just added dark reader - really good :+D
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I started wearing glasses 3-4 years ago. They measured 0.5-0.75 cylindrical correction, respectively, but I suspect it's not quite right. I see better, but not great. At least I only need them when I'm on the computer.
Also, I should probably wear an eye patch for a few weeks. My brain for the most part ignores the right eye to the point sometimes I catch myself reading with just the left eye and the right one is off doing its own thing.

It might have been the monitors, or it might have been years of cycling in the sun. I've read UV can damage the retina, and that wearing sunglasses with improper UV filtering dilates the pupil, letting more UV light than if the glasses weren't there.
I started wearing glasses 3-4 years ago. They measured 0.5-0.75 cylindrical correction, respectively, but I suspect it's not quite right. I see better, but not great.

My doctor told me to come back for a checkup in 1 year, if you didn't visit eye specialist last 3-4 years likely you should do it again.
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Did coding make you wear glasses?


Yes. I had to start wearing glasses for long-distance when I was about 25. I was staring at multiple computer 'terminals' (the old 80x24 ones) often for over 10 hours straight a day every day. I can see computer screens/read OK without them, but for more than a few feet it's all blurred without glasses.

My optometrist definitely blames looking too intently at computer screens for too long periods without breaks. Basically my eye muscles now can't relax properly to enable long distance vision. To prevent this, for a few minutes every couple of hours you should 'stare into the distance' and focus on long-distance objects to get your eyes used to relaxing properly.
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To prevent this, for a few minutes every couple of hours you should 'stare into the distance' and focus on long-distance objects to get your eyes used to relaxing properly.

That's is very useful information!

I already noticed there is a time needed for long distance adaptation but I never paid attention to this.
My doctor told me to come back for a checkup in 1 year, if you didn't visit eye specialist last 3-4 years likely you should do it again.
To clarify, I don't see worse than when I started wearing them. I just don't see as well as, say, 10 years ago. My aunt also has only astigmatism and she's been using the same correction for decades.
I started wearing glasses in Elementary school, couldn't see the board, even when the teacher put me in the front row.

After I got glasses, things were super clear in a way I couldn't remember them ever being. But my vision only got worse for several more years, became more stable at around the end of high school. Now that I've had the same prescription for years, I should be able to get Lasik and ditch the glasses.

As a kid, I would sometimes stare at the sun... could be related.
no. I had 20/100 or so by the 3rd grade. And while I got an early start, not that early... I think 4th or 5th we had one apple for the whole class and it could do jack all, a $2000 typewriter at that point. I didn't really get into it until the 6th grade or so.

I enjoyed about 15 years of 20/20 nearly with surgery, and its gone south again in my old age.
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I don't think computers/programming did a number on my eyes...just happened.

One thing I have noticed though is that I can't use dark themes...it makes my eyes go strange and I end up with a migraine if I use it for too long. I think the light themes are getting brighter...wouldn't mind a midway theme like Office Dark Gray.
I don't like dark themes either. White text on black burns by retina. 0x80 gray on black is much better, though.

You should check your monitor brightness. Several years ago I got a new monitor and I noticed after an hour or so of using it I got splitting headaches without fail. Lowering the brightness so the backlight shone less intensely did the trick.
The brightness on all my screens is turned down. I seem to be quite sensative to overly bright light...I even have reactive coating so the lenses of my glasses darken in bright light. I would have thought I would get on with a dark theme but I end up with lines burnt into my vision. I use the powershell blue and light grey colour scheme for cli work.
I found that using Windows' night light feature makes the screen not bother my eyes at all. Its timed for me to start around when it starts to get dark. Makes my eyes comfortable without touching the brightness.

And I love dark theme 0-0
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bright drives me nuts. I use a classic terminal setup of moderately bright (but not full on) green over black, with a very simple color scheme around that for important code keywords (I don't need everything under the sun, but comments, language words, a few other things are enough).
one of the top features of MSVS is that you can color // and /// differently. I used to define 2-3 extra in notepad++ eg //# or //- and so on to do that, with colors for normal comments, notes to myself, or critical things that need attention. Not only the colors but can pull out with grep...

I also have dark glasses. Grey-3, they called it.
The Doctor said I should use them until I retire
Was that before or after getting in the police box?
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