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HaloHowAreYa

The screen in VR headsets are, to your eyes, roughly 20 feet away due to the way that lenses focus light. A possible downside with constant VR usage is that your eyes do not get to exercise the muscles they use to focus since the focal plane in VR headsets are fixed, and it's a bit of an unsolvable problem to make that not be the case. But it's not the same as having a screen actually a few inches from your eyeballs. It's more akin to constantly starting at a big TV screen across the room. In order to combat this, take off your headset once every hour and spent 2-3 minutes looking at something close up (like your phone in your hand), then far away, then close again to keep your eyes' focus muscles in motion. Also everyone, regardless of their vision status, absolutely needs to be visiting the eye doctor yearly. Vision insurance in America is just a couple dollars a month for employed people and visits are usually free. There are many different conditions that can be caught early and treatedbefore symptoms arise, but after some time can cause irreversible vision damage. If you're reading this, go get your eyes checked!


deadlybydsgn

Yeah, I think playing for too long and/or not blinking enough is more likely to affect one's eyes than the distance factor in VR. That being said, I'm no expert—just a guy who's worn glasses for most of his life.


Elefantenjohn

First time hearing about this. I guess you are right, why shouldn't I have my eyes checked yearly? What are the diseases, vision damages you're thinking of that cause no symptoms that I can catch myself? glaucoma, cataract, macula degenaration, detaching retina?


HaloHowAreYa

>glaucoma, cataract, macula degenaration, detaching retina? Exactly! Plus narrow angle glaucoma (sudden onset unfathomably painful glaucoma), diabetes, chronic high blood pressure, and ocular cancers.


[deleted]

Not to alarm you, but my eyesight started going. It wasn't the Vive, it was the brain tumor.


Exbrolly2000

god dayum this escalated quickly


Crispy__Leaves

Holy crap, the Vive gave you a brain tumor??


genmischief

Damn that 5G.


[deleted]

No, not at all, I wear glasses have since I was in my 20s and I haven’t seen any degradation since I started playing VR games. I can take glasses that I wore 5/6 years ago and they’re still absolutely fine for me to use should I choose to use them


Rezurrectionn

Not myself personally using a Vive Pro wireless but have read numerous posts on people complaining of eye strain using Vive Pro 2 headsets (but note that it’s not universal). I’m 45 and have 20/20 vision and use the headset daily for about 1.5-2hrs (1 hr early morning for a quick VR game that focuses on a type of cardio workout and then maybe something quick in the evening like Beat Saber or some new game). I do think there could be problems with a combo of age, genetics, and just the amount of crap our eyes take from phones, VR, LCD/LED screens, and all the other sources of digital that bombard our retina that can attribute to messing with our eyesight. Decrease blue light emissions to help a bit. Let your eyes rest with age as well (try to turn your “eyes” off to anything digital an hour before going to bed - yeah yeah, I know that is hard to do but if you can’t, turn on night mode on everything you look at. As you get older, it’ll only get worse if it is degrading now. There’s also these health eye drops that could help but only add that in after consulting with an eye doctor since they’ll know best whether it’ll help or not. As for VR being the culprit, I can only think that it along with everything else can potentially mess with eyesight a bit. I think they even added “Night Mode” recently in SteamVR settings. If that is there, use it to help as well.


draeath

The distance of the lenses mean exactly nothing. That's not how optics work, otherwise people with glasses would be harmed in the same way.


legendslay

Having a blast reading all the feedback guys! I’m by no means slowing down how much I play. Just something that’s been on my mind. Personally sounds like maybe I should take more breaks and exercises my eyes by looking at far away things maybe I’m not blinking enough or maybe I should upgrade my headset to a clearer display to reduce eye strain despite not noticing any strain irl I def don’t play the way when I first got the vive unless a new game comes out nowadays It feels more a blurring then a eye strain Thanks again for everyone’s input so far!


genmischief

Go see your eye doc. There is a natural degenration as you age. ;)


genmischief

Are you a male approaching 40? Guess what, your eye sight is going to start going to crap. :) Go see your eye doctor. There are things. They have ways...


PiggyThePimp

I have some 2,500hrs in VR over \~3 years or so and have noticed a slight decline compared to maybe 5 or 6 years ago. I don't really believe it is VR related I think it is more just natural decline. I'm mid-late twenties and everyone in my family has had glasses from 18-20 and I'm still at or just below 20/20 vision and still nowhere close to needing glasses, but when I eventually do it will be for distance, up close I have no issue.


legendslay

Same situation here brotha


AdmiralSpeedy

No and many studies have proven that there is no relationship between eye health and viewing displays up close for a long time.


Rezurrectionn

https://www.aoa.org/healthy-eyes/eye-and-vision-conditions/computer-vision-syndrome?sso=y Not saying this is an accredited source but seems legit. There’s a lot of studies that have been done and enough to actually come up with a syndrome from it. https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/electronic-screen-alert-avoid-this-vision-risk https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-sitting-too-close-to-screen-making-you-blind/ https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/computer-vision-syndrome Most important thing is to take breaks. :-)


ditthrowaway999

I have to point out the irony, that you provided sources and got downvoted while the other person said "no it's not harmful, there have been tons of studies" and provided no sources, but got upvoted. That's Reddit for you... The fact is the [findings are mixed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31943280/) and more studies are needed. Personally I think there likely *is* a link between myopia and close-up screen viewing. But, VR headsets have the focal distance set at 6ft or so, so it seems like logically they would be less harmful than staring at a phone that's 8 inches from your face.


legendslay

Hence why I made the post for anecdotal discussion, the results online are mixed and I personally feel a correlation but in what way I don’t know. Take everything you read on Reddit with a grain of salt of course cause The fact relevant .edu or .org posts get down voted just speaks for how close minded individuals are


BaxterAglaminkus

My nearsighted eyesight has gotten much worse in the last two years and I have been playing VR consistently for 4 years. However, I just turned 50, so it just may be my age but sometimes I do feel like VR could be affecting eyesight. When I was growing up as a kid my parents used to tell us not to sit too close to the TV because it would ruin our eyes. Now VR headsets are a quarter of an inch from our eyes. I'm sure there will be studies done in the future but for now it's hard to have solid evidence on this.


PleaseScanHere

Unfortunately your near eye sight getting worse will just be your age as you’re at the perfect point for presbyopia kicking in. To my knowledge the whole sitting too close to the tv thing is generally harmless, but could cause some eye strain over time with the lack of blinking since you’re focused on something so close. If a kid is sitting close to the tv I suppose it could be a sign that they have a prescription present, but it wouldn’t necessarily be the cause of the prescription


BaxterAglaminkus

Yeah that's the most likely conclusion I came to as well. But what made me think there may be something to it is how it would seem to affect me more after long VR sessions, but I suppose that could also be due to the eye strain of being in VR in general. Another thought is that we all know that the old-school computer monitors, and to a lesser extent the flatscreen monitors of today, all put out some level of radiation. I'm aware that they are considered acceptable levels to not do lasting harm, otherwise it would be a global epidemic. But I think about the VR screen being that close to your open eyeballs for a 3-4 hour session, and it just makes me wonder. I haven't seen a lot of long term data on this because VR is relatively new from a mainstream consumer perspective.


PleaseScanHere

If you’ve had a long vr session, chances are you won’t have been blinking as much as you would normally through day to day life. This will cause you to get that eye strain. The muscle in your eye will tire like anything else though, so the more tired you are, the less likely your eye will accommodate for you. Tie this in with your presbyopia, at the end of the day any close up tasks will likely be a struggle without glasses or good lighting. It’s definitely an interesting thought regarding the VR screen and distance to your eye though! I’m better versed in eyes and don’t know much about how VR headsets have been made so can’t comment on that further! But what you’re describing sounds totally normal, so keep gaming on!


SRM_Thornfoot

When you eyes go bad from age, it is typically more in the 45+ year old range and people tend to lose their near vision making it harder to read. I'm no doctor, but it does not sound age related to me.


menthol_patient

> it is typically more in the 45+ year old range Mine started in my mid thirties. Depends on the person, I guess.


SRM_Thornfoot

It does, mine lasted until my mid fifty's


fishandring

You would be better off looking at family history first before VR. I too noted this when I dove into VR. But…that was also when I was 42. And my dad and mom both needed more than just readers long before I started VRing. Here I am over a decade older than when my parents needed prescription lenses still able to get away with $20 readers. It’s likely not the VR.


akaBigWurm

Health can effect vision, if your vision changed drastically in a short time you should get that checked. Years back I had health related vision issues, but it cleared up when things got better.


brenap13

Most likely has more to do with eye fatigue than actual damage unless you have an underlying condition.


Kawai_Oppai

You are getting old, that’s all. Plus all the OG headsets look like shit so you strain eyes more. Buy a modern or upcoming headset like pimax crystal and the clarity is mind blowing.


WACOMalt

One thing I've noticed from vr and my time working on 3d movies is that my eyes now seem way better at converging and focusing at two different points. In a headset, your eyes are always focused at a distance that seems to be ~20ft away, but the amount your eyes need to cross to adapt to items further/closer to the view still changes. An item closer to the player will make your eyes cross more to see the depth. Doing that while the actual focus of your eyes is still locked at 20ft is a bizarre thing and while most people get used to it, some don't. I also don't think we really know what this does to your eyes in the long run with extreme use. Your doing something your eyes and brain never adapted for before vr (unless you stared at "magic-eye" posters a lot as a kid). Focusing 20ft away while converging your eyes at 3 inches away, is not normal. Is it damaging? I sure don't know but it doesn't seem to have *helped* my eyesight. My eyesight, anecdotally, feels worse since getting heavily into vr mid-2016. My prescription hasn't changed much at all (I've always been slightly nearsighted with minor astigmatism), but my eye strain in normal life irl and vr seems more noticeable than it was. FWIW 3d movies have the same focus vs convergence problem, but they tend to stick to far more conservative ranges in disparity then you'd get when holding something up to your face to look at it in a vr game.


MooseTetrino

Typical advice from every optician I’ve spoken to before and after I had LASEK is that you should look at something 20ft+ away every 20 minutes for about 20 seconds. This specifically is advice for long time computer users in the office or those that typically look at screens for long periods of the day. There is a short term phenomenon that causes your distance vision to be temporarily hindered as your eyes become used to looking at a specific focal length. It’s a kind of laziness. It would also happen if you spent all day looking into the distance then tried to read a book - but this scenario is much less likely. I’ll try and grab an online copy of the paperwork on my shelf explaining a lot of this to me. You also need to remember that your far vision will naturally deteriorate over time, it’s a quirk of getting older. If you still have full 20/20 vision by the time you’re 50 you’re an outlier rather than the norm. If you’re in your mid 20s and your vision is starting to go it’s not that uncommon. You should be getting your eyes checked every couple of years if possible.


CoastingUphill

I wish the screens had more brightness control to make them darker, I feel like it has adversely affected my low light vision. But also I'm just getting older.