Ask HN: How can I see my screens without needing glasses

[danhab99]

The worst part of my day is when I put on my glasses. I hate wearing glasses. They're never clean, I can always see dust and lens flares which means all my software has to be in nightmode. I can feel them on my ears all the time, it doesn't matter how good my glasses are I'm just constantly aware of my ears. I hate breaking them in, I've been wearing the same glasses for 5 years. And contacts are not a good solution for me, (this is literally just me) the first time I fail to get one in my mind is filled with every frustrating event thats ever happened to me and I can't continue.

The correct solution for me is to get my eyes lasered, but thats expensive, dangerous, and involves a recovery period.

I don't mind wearing my glasses all day. I just wanted to ask if someone knew a better way?

[TowerTall]

To me it sounds like your options are:

- Wear contact lenses

- Wear glasses

- Get eye surgery

- clean your glasses

If you don't want to do ant of that looks into the acceptability features of you os eg high contrast theme in windows, scale / enlarge text, user a lower resolution so things become bigger

[danhab99]

I use accessibility features, they're not enough so that I can sit a proper distance from my laptop and work all day.

My whole issue is that light isn't getting scattered properly inside of my eye, right? Hasn't anyone looked into a display technology that focuses the light I want to see into my eye anyways? I feel like this is the kind of ground breaking research that changes the world, not how to pack 10 different cameras onto the back of an iPhone, guess that's just me.

[yuppie_scum]

Order a pack of microfiber cloths from Amazon for $5 and clean your damn glasses regularly, There’s cleaning fluid on there cheap too if that’s not enough. If they’re tight on your ears, go to where you bought them and get them to adjust them, it’s usually free.

[litoE]

I used to use microfiber cloths, but found that the lenses would get scratched. My optometrist told me that the combination of cloths and the gritty dirt was the equivalent of using fine sandpaper on the soft plastic. She recommended using a tiny drop of dishwashing liquid on each lens and then washing them with water followed by thorough rinsing. Then dry the lenses by dabbing them with tissue rather than rubbing them. My glasses now last for years with no scratches.

[BillSims]

Two things that you might look into

1: Pinhole glasses. Those are ordinary frames with opaque "lenses" with a uniform grid of small holes. Some people having problem with the lens in their eye sometimes report that these help. One person I know who had some deformity in their lens found these to be helpful. They seem to work by, instead of trying to converge the entire image across the diameter of the pupil, tries to converge the image across the diameter of one pinhole. And they are cheap, if they don't work then you just throw them away and there seems little risk of more extreme treatments. You might try to judge the diameter of the holes before you buy. I have seen negative reviews which claimed that they received something more like nail holes than pin holes. There will be a tradeoff in ease of manufacture, amount of light you get and amount of focusing, all dependent on the hole diameter. Note: I do not for a moment pretend to support the claims that these things cure eye problems.

2. Do a Google search for drug to shrink iris to correct vision without glasses and see if this sounds like it might apply to you. This might simulate the pinhole effect of those glasses in the previous item and might reduce the need for corrective lenses. The drug sounds like it has minimal side effects and discontinuing the drug should clear your system fairly promptly.

Both these seem similar to "pushing the f-stop on a camera", where the need for precise focus becomes less important.

If you get someone to diagnose exactly what your condition is and it has a specific name and you find which things seem to work and which don't then please report back so that someone else might know what to try or not try. Thanks

[idontwantthis]

Can work in ImmersedVR with a Meta Quest 2. Need to use corrective lenses still, but it doesn't bother your ears at least.

Also if you've been using the same glasses for 5 years, you might just need to get a new pair. Tell the optometrist every one of your complaints and see if you can find a more comfortable pair.

[danhab99]

> Can work in ImmersedVR with a Meta Quest 2. Need to use corrective lenses still, but it doesn't bother your ears at least.

I've tried VR (with my glasses). I can see each pixel, I feel like I'm staring at a dot matrix display. I hate VR.

> Also if you've been using the same glasses for 5 years, you might just need to get a new pair

I mean I do. I'm just dreading having to break in a new pair. Those first 2 weeks of your shit not fitting right is traumatizing.

[idontwantthis]

The amount of trauma glasses cause you is unusual. Have you talked to a psychiatrist about it? Maybe you have a phobia or a sensory disorder.

Also, have you tried the Quest 2 specifically? VR was like you described until this headset.

[beardyw]

I wear varifocals all day even though my long vision is fine and good enough to drive (so they are almost clear at the top). I found putting on my glasses to work disturbed me in a similar way. Somehow wearing them all the time is better. YMMV

[iamnobody862]

This site really helped me. YMMV

https://endmyopia.org/