Best tips for reducing eyestrain while coding with astigmatism?

> I am mainly interested in what tools, settings, and themes people with astigmatism use, and if you have any preference for light or dark themes. Personally, I cannot stand light, whether it is physical light or light on screens.

Contrary to your preference, I believe a light theme (black letters on white/gray background) is better for astigmatism. With a dark theme, the bright letters will bleed into the dark areas surrounding them. (At least that's how I experience it. I have only slight astigmatism, but the ghosting effect already annoys me for dark themes.)

If you really want to stick to a dark theme, I would select something where the text is not too bright. The Solarized Dark Theme that you mention seems OK in this regard.

Hi, ophthalmologist here :-) The good news is that if there is no underlying pathology (such as keratoconus, which should be sought in case of progressing astigmatism), every ametropia can be corrected with the right glasses and allow a good working comfort.

First, check your prescription with an ophthalmologist (or optometrist, depending on your country). You may benefit from a cycloplegic refraction, to ensure that you don't have an undercorrected hyperopia.

Then, always wear your glasses when working.

Your floaters don't have a direct relationship with your astigmatism and you may need a fundus examination, which will be done at the same time as your cycloplegic refraction (pupils will be dilated using eye drops).

Reducing the screen light and using a blue filter may also help. But good prescription is key.

> I was diagnosed with astigmatism in 2018 or around that time. I haven't been to the eye doctor since...

Your eyes have probably changed since 2018. The old glasses have not. Go to a good eye doctor, and get new glasses for use with computers. You'll need to tell the Dr. how far your monitor is from your eyes -"reading" glasses are usually tuned for a book held considerably closer to your eyes than a screen.

I have a similar story and one thing that helped a lot was simply switching from dark color scheme to a light one.

I don’t know the actual science behind this, there are controversial opinions on this topic, but I definitely sensed that dark color scheme was making my astigmatism much worse. It’s almost completely gone after I switched (and that’s the only thing I did) and I can work for much longer periods than before. I eventually switched to light mode on my IPhone as well.

I suggest you to give it a try. Btw, I use papercolor scheme, which is great

> I haven't been to the eye doctor since

You really should visit annually. There are a bunch of diseases that can be diagnosed by looking at the retina. It's totally worth the 15 minutes of your time to drop by (many opticians do drop ins if they aren't busy)

I don’t have astigmatism but I have had eye strain from coding.

Some recommendations if you’re on a Mac:

- HazeOver: dims any part of the screen that isn’t in focus

- Noir: makes every website into dark mode. Works more consistently than Dark Reader and also allows you to choose different themes.

- Time Out: will black out the screen after a designated period of time to force you to have a break

More general options:

- blue glasses as mentioned in other comments

- if you work from home, consider using a large tv to code and sitting a good distance from it. I am currently coding on a 65inch tv and find it far easier on the eyes as they physically have to move around more than before.

- If you’ve got the space, even better than the above would be to use a projector screen which is even easier on the eyes. You can get laser projectors now which are still visible inside in broad daylight even with the curtains open and lights on.

You didn’t mention your age, but your eyesight can change quite a bit over time. I would recommend getting a new prescription and new glasses. Make sure the lenses have an anti-reflective coating and wear them all the time.

I like a dimly lit room, but not completely dark. I have my monitors set to low brightness and use dark themes.

There’s a BIG difference in how each optician / optometrist / ophthalmologists measures and determines and prescribes glasses for people with astigmatism.

I have astigmatism. It’s -0.5 at 80° in my right eye, -1.0 at 100° in my left eye. Meaning it’s 10 degrees off the vertical axis, different in each eye, symmetric to the face.

My “eye doctor” – my opthalmologist? — is a good doctor. Well educated, does a good job as a doctor. He gave me a straight -0.5 / -1.0 myopia prescription after measuring “some astigmatism”, said “this is fine”.

Then I went to a not-a-doctor guy. A licensed optician? Optometrist? Skilled and well-educated. He took the time to measure the precise degree of astigmatism and was careful to prescribe a close and practical match to the measured astigmatism. I had no idea he would do that, and no expectations of any difference whatsoever. And: Those glasses are MUCH better. I see better, see clearer, can work forever, don’t get tired in the eyes or head. Feel sharper.

I’m kind of reluctant to add this last part as it probably seems implausible, but my experience with this more detailed prescription for astigmatism is that it has allowed my depth perception to improve. Slowly. I thought I was imagining it, but it does make sense according to the optometrist and scientific papers. Basically if you get a better signal to the brain, you get better processing, better learning, better adaptation. And less tired.

I’ve had astigmatism my whole life, and worn glasses or contacts since age 4.

1. Wear your glasses! Even if you think you can see OK for a while without them.

2. The floaters and light-sensitivity should be checked by a medical professional (although apparently many people do get floaters with age). I’ve never had any problems with either. Note the difference between an opthalmologist (a doctor who diagnoses and treats eye conditionss), an optometrist (who measures you for corrective lenses) and an optician (who makes and supplies the lenses). Here in Australia, good optometrists will check you for some common eye conditions as part of our universal health system, but that isn’t necessarily the case elsewhere, and it’s only common conditions.

3. Regardless of light or dark themes, a good quality, bright, high-contrast and high-resolution screen with good quality fonts. (Up until Apple’s font patents expired quite recently, that last meant a Mac.) Example: iMac Retina 5K. I guess their new Studio Display which replaced it.

4. Light themes where possible. Black text on white, not grey on white, not grey on mid-grey or anything else dreamt up by some amateur designer with their screen brightness racked up too high. No amateur-designed fonts. I use 16 point Courier in black on white in Xcode, with syntax highlighting turned off completely. I do use some software whose only workable themes are dark (typical for photographic software) and then use a separate dark desktop and set the text to crisp white.

5. Room lighting should not be too dark.

> I was diagnosed with astigmatism in 2018... I haven't been to the eye doctor since... I feel that my eyesight may be becoming more of an issue. ...I see floaters.

You need to go back to the eye doctor.

High DPI monitor, large fonts, and keeping my workspace well lit have been the best at reducing eye strain for me

About 7 years ago my eyesight was fading fast as a programmer. I ended up getting glasses and nothing seemed to really help. Then a co-worker suggested I change the color profile of my monitor. The change reduced the blue and added a yellow tint. Things changed overnight. My eyesight went back to normal.

Every once in a while my MacBook shifts out of that color profile and it feels borderline blinding in comparison. I have no idea if that will help you with the condition you have, but it’s definitely worth a shot.

I received the same diagnostic in 2017, which coincided with the year I got my first external monitor for my MacBook. Headaches and eye pain became a more common occurence in the first weeks, until I stumbled upon ddcctl [0] and the fact that monitor brightness can be changed from the OS.

That's when I developed the first version of Lunar (https://lunar.fyi) to adapt brightness automatically throughout the day based on the sun position in the sky. (reading the light sensor was not possible at the time)

That combined with Night Shift (macOS native version of f.lux) fixed most of my problems.

I also tried blue light filter glasses but the only effect they had was removing more money from my savings. I feel like this is just modern day snake oil for computer workers.

In the end, what fixed all of my problems was a LASIK [1] operation (well actually PRK because I had only a small abberation). I still recommend this to all my friends and relatives who are always complaining about their vision. It did change my life.

I still cringe when someone turns on an overhead lightbulb though, I never use those in my home. Turns out this wasn't my astigmatism, it's just that most LED bulbs are simply too bright single point lights.

I fit my home with TRADfri warm light lamps hidden behind sofa/door/desk [2], WLED-powered [3] LED strips and simple string lights (like you can see in the front page video on https://lowtechguys.com/volum/)

[0] https://github.com/kfix/ddcctl

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LASIK

[2] https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tradfri-remote-control-kit-smar...

[3] https://kno.wled.ge/

I have had glasses for short sight since the age of 6, and have always had astigmatism too (worse in left than in right eye). In general I've had no problems with screens till recently (I'm 68 now) except problems caused by poor contrast. Among other things I used to work on accessibility for websites; it is bizarre to me that all the lessons of accessibility have been forgotten - websites were once regularly tested for accessibility, including readability for the colour-blind, and many used to display little 'stickers' to certify the level they reached - but now light grey text on white is normal and unquestioned almost everywhere (including this site). This makes text almost unreadable for me; I have to bump the font size up much more than I would otherwise. I don't get on with dark mode either, even if the contrast is ok. I have no idea if any of this relates to astigmatism.

Astigmatism can change with age so maybe you should check if you need new glasses, it might be that your astigmatism has changed.

Last thing - I've found floaters on a small scale come and go with age, they've never bothered me much. But if you have a sudden increase you need to get it checked - it might be a retina in the process of detaching.

I have been astigmatic my entire life, but now that I've passed the age where my eyes are less flexible than they used to be and progressive lenses are important, I've found that a dedicated pair of computer glasses are hugely helpful.

Specifically, I have a pair that have no far vision at all, just short to medium. I use them around the house in general, only breaking out the normal glasses when I go outside for any reason.

I think having the correct screen brightness is important so you don’t have to squint as much. I also use dark mode which seems to help with contrast. I don’t turn on overhead light it’s too bright but I use an LED strip on my desk with red light which has been nice. My optometrist recommended not wearing glasses for the computer but if you do he said to get a blue light filter lens.

My astigmatism is on the extreme side. About 20 years ago it was off the charts (before the measurement technology advanced in precision). I have had it all my life and cannot imagine vision without it. I just wear glasses all the time and power through it, even through environmental extremes and long period of high stress activity.

Whether because of my high myopia, the high astigmatism, or the super strong corrective lenses (or other factors) my eye muscles seem to work differently than other peoples'. I seem to have a faster twitch rate (rapid movement between points of focus). I can focus on things for longer periods of time without blinking and I seem to be less prone to eye fatigue and injury than many other people. My eyes do get tired though, and when that happens I have trouble discerning between eye fatigue and mental exhaustion, but at any rate when fatigue creeps in I am done.

I have both Astigmatism (can't remember the level, diagnosticated long time ago) and Myopia, and from my personal experience, a not-completely-dark theme while coding in a well-lit room.

I tried using pitch-black/dark high constrast themes, but i find them harder on the eyes for some reason (felt eye strain in a few minutes). So i prefer the ones with mildly colorful tones and a translucent blue/dark background.

Last time i changed my glasses' lens, they offered some blue-light protection ones, and i think it also helped, though not so much.

I still need to try using light themes for real, but since i mostly code in a very dark environment, i don't think it would be worth it...

Astigmatism is a bitch in the way that you cannot compensate it by moving closer or further relative to the computer screen. You need to use your prescription glasses or you will face eyestrain, period.

I have heavy myopia, astigmatism and went through cataracts procedure, so my eyesight is not really eagle like. What works for me is using light background themes (night/dark schemes do not really work) and increasing the terminal/editor font size and decreasing the screen resolution (I have my 4k monitor running at 1920x1080, so there you go). Also, do not code at night without indirect lighting, your pupils will be thankful.

But the most important thing is: do not neglect your eyes. If you were prescripted glasses, use them, and visit the doctor every year.

Apart from what everyone else said (go see an ophthalmologist ASAP, eyes change, and wear your glasses), I've found that e-ink screens drastically reduce eye strain for me (as in, I cannot stand a normal screen for more than a few minutes, my phone's OLED tires me within tens of minutes at a time, but i can spend the whole day on my Kindle or e-ink tablet). Check if that's the case for you too with a low cost option (like a Kindle), and if it works it might be worth investing in an e-ink monitor (which doesn't work for everything but should be fine for coding).

- zoom in your screen/font. - use blue-cut glasses. - increase your distance with the monitor. - break from monitor when your eyes are tired. each 20 minutes spare into an object far distance. - drink water.

My astigmatism is high enough that some of the machines they use to make measurements don't work on me.

I've found contact lenses gave me better quality of vision than glasses. But then I got tired of contact lenses/glass entirely: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34033275#34037456

- work with an optometrist to get the right eyeglasses, if they are too nearsighted they may make your eyes deteriorate faster

- 20/20/20 - every 20 minutes let your eyes relax then focus on something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This can reduce the strain from focusing close

- increase your system font. Anywhere from 110-120 percent can make a difference from straining to see tiny font code

High contrast (between colors, between text and background, etc) is harder on your eyes. Lowering the contrast can help reduce strain.

The right color scheme in your IDE can help. Reducing contrast in your monitor settings can help. Usually reducing brightness also serves to reduce contrast. A matte display also helps (matte displays naturally have lower contrast than glossy).

Bilberry extract. There are a few contraindications as for every supplement but it helps (also scientifically studied).

Well I have a lot thanks to keratoconus in the right eye to the point I'm blind from it, and a litle in the left eye.

using bright ides and monitors. hurts my eyes (I noticed I have a lot more sensibility to light?). so a lot of indirect natural light, and a good dark theme makes the experience a lot better for me.

I have a moderate astigmatism and just wearing my prescription contacts or glasses is enough for me to not have significant eye strain. If I try to use a computer without them, I have to get so close it's uncomfortable and strain my eyes a lot.

Enlarged font sizes and periodic breaks where I get up and walk around do wonders for me.

Before I was diagnosed, I was wondering how people can see street signs this far and how can they use such a small font. Anything smaller then 14pt for me was not legible. So I was always running things zoomed in (ff was set to %120 zoom for example).

Now that I have glasses, I wear them mainly when I'm going outside, especially when driving - I can see signs (and not miss a turn even with navigation!) and incoming cars in the night are not that blinding.

I still don't wear my glasses when working, but now I consciously zoom everything in (or run big fonts) so I don't have to squint or stare at things. I do find dark themes a little bit better cause it doesn't have the whole screen lighting up, but maybe I should experiment with light themes again. For nvim specifically, where I spend a bunch of time, I use molokai dark theme with menlo for powerline as a font.

I use Flux, a software tool that removes some blue light from the display.

I also wear glasses, and paid the extra $150 to get the blue light filtering.

If I ever feel my eyes straining, I just take a break. Go take a walk, good for your mind, heart, and eyes.

I've had nearsightedness with astingmatism for 40 years. It's irrelevant if you have glasses made and wear them.

You haven't had you vision checked in 4 years. Get it checked and get new glasses.

I thought it would be neat to get reading glasses. Since I am also nearsighted, reading glasses for me would have zero strength except for the astigmatism

But the optician refused that because I was not old enough

One thing that helped me get adjusted to glasses is the blue filter. I think it really helps with eye strain. One theme that I really like in VSCODE is the slime theme.

Avoid window transparency and use clear editor backgrounds (dark themes are harder to focus on).

The extra light causes pupil contraction which helps with focusing.

Also work in a well lit place.

Get brighter lights for the room you work in, and then get a brighter screen (or turn the brightness up).

More brightness reduces the size of your pupils, which reduces the effects of most defects of the lenses in your eyes.

Obviously it'll cost you ~$100/year in electricity to have a nicely lit bright office, but considering a developers salary I'd guess that even a tiny bit more productivity will rapidly pay for that.