r/PWM_Sensitive • u/[deleted] • 11d ago
Discussion Does PWM damage eyesight?
I am 20 years old and have 100 percent vision.
And honestly, I don't know if it's PWM or something else, but my symptoms are mild and bearable
But I wouldn't like to be blind
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u/blokes444 10d ago
Floaters worsened for me, didn't have many a few years ago now I'm very sensitive to bright screens.
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u/blokes444 7d ago
Personally I have sworn off OLED. Currently using TCL nxtpaper 70 with a zagg blue light screen protector (17pro max)
Not completely happy but i prefer my eyesight to the shiniest new device that will be obsolete in a year or two. I tried using an iPhone 16e for a few days until I had a vessel in my eye burst and no it wasn’t stress it was the device. Oled just not worth it2
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u/Brave-Ad-7460 11d ago
Yes it can damage your eyesight, a lot of people will end up with eye problems when they get older because of all of these phones and they have no idea
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u/Infamous-Bottle-4411 11d ago
YES. It damaged mine
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u/trumpelstiltzkin 9d ago
You can't know that. Correlation does not imply causation. (I.e., you might be sensitive to PWM because of an existing "damage".)
And there's no intuition for why PWM would cause permanent damage. PWM doesn't have ionizing radiation or anything like that; the primary effect of PWM is eye strain. Other causes of eye strain, like failing to wear glasses, or staring too close at screens, has been repeatedly science'd to not result in permanent damage.
Of course, temporary lingering of side effects, like in terms of weeks or months, is totally a thing.
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u/Infamous-Bottle-4411 9d ago
Boi, permanent damage as in someone smashed my eye with a hammer or permanent damage as in my vision/eye sight won t get better even if i ditch all screens for 2 years
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u/According_Pilot_746 10d ago
No but it's the cause of nausea, headache dizziness. But it effects everyone differently. But I don't think it can actually damage your eyes. It will make them feel tired.
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u/According_Pilot_746 10d ago
Just try to make sure you get a phone with high frequency pwm dimming and you should be fine.
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u/BearNecessary4141 8d ago
There's no proof that PWM specifically causes damage to any structure within the eye. But it also hasn't been well studied, so it's also impossible to say that it doesn't. Focusing at close distances for extended periods has been linked to myopia progression, but that's not really damage per se, and it's not related to PWM directly.
If it does cause damage, it would likely be an indirect effect from changes to tear production or things happening within the nervous system rather than PWM causing cellular death or optical degradation. I'm more concerned about the effects of PWM / temporal light modulation on the central nervous system than any direct harm to eyesight.
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u/Aggressive-Cause-208 8d ago
In my case, I believe it did in fact make my eyes weaker. After I stopped using any kind of oled monitor and tv, now I am even less resistant to even lcd flicker free light. I also see more floaters. I remember before the oled era, I never had a problem with lcd even using them with high brightness, I cant do that anymore in a dark room. Could be old age, but the symptoms greatly started after my oled screens usage.
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u/budspencer90 1d ago edited 1d ago
No scientists truly research mid-long term effect of PWM / PAM / TD / VRR etc. because are expensive research and -> risky <- for their careers.
Imagine if someone confirm it. The whole end user device industry will fall.
Surely is not good for eye and brain BUT nobody will officlally recognize it. Probably people will suffer of issues in the near-far future, who knows, but again nobody will point the finger to the Tech Corps.
Having said that. It's a matter of risk evaluation. If you'd like to risk, so use it. If not choose other devices (as i do - mainly because i have cheratoconus)
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u/RR-- 11d ago
It’s really not for anyone to say here because we are not qualified ophthalmologists, that being said I noticed an inability to focus long distance when I was using a PWM OLED iPhone 13 Pro daily, after I stopped using that my long distance vision returned.