[thechat] Astigmata

[Bob Davis]

On 4/4/02 1:39 PM, "dave mclean" <dave at members.evolt.org> wrote:

>
> Hey guys,
>
> I went for my first appointment ever with an Optometrist today.  Apparently
> I have astigmatism... (not to be confused with stigmata ;-)  My prescription
> is +025 +075 90... does anyone know what this means or can point me in the
> direction of a good vision web site that will tell me all about it?
>

I'd have to look at my prescription, but most folks think they're just fake
glasses. My vision is fine, but I too have a very slight astigmatism.

> Does anyone else have astigmatism or Computer Vision Syndrome?  Any
> comments?
>

Yup. I've had the astigmatism for a long time, but about 4 years ago my eyes
started to hurt after a few hours on the machine. I wear glasses now when
I'm working on a CRT for more than a few minutes or if I'm driving at night
for anything over a couple hours (glare kills me).   With a TFT (like the
Apple display I have at work), my eyes don't  get as tired as fast. Same
with the PowerBook.

It seems that the difference between the outer surface of a CRT and the
inner surface (where the phosphors are - where the letters, virtual desktop,
etc. are) causes confusion for your eyes, making them focus back and forth
on the two different planes. It causes them to tire more quickly and hurt.
Flat panel displays have inner and outer surfaces that are a lot closer, and
they don't  cause the focus shift. They're also nice and bright, and (good
ones) are sharper than (average) CRT's.

I'm starting to think that It makes sense to spend a lot of money on your
monitor/display and just carry it around with you from machine to machine.
They don't go obsolete as quickly as computer cpu's do. Next machine I get
will have the bestest (yeah, I said bestest...) monitor I can get. I think
it's kind of the same as with speakers on a sound system - spend 1/3 on the
components, and 2/3 on the speakers.

bob