If you have eye floaters a suggestion

[Neil]

I started having eye floaters five years ago. Like many people who get older these did not go away. It became more and more difficult to read. Some of the floaters were like looking through spiderwebs. Others threw a few dozen flying gnats into the mix. I went from reading for hours at a time to eye straining my way through a half hour session. I began to despair as reading was and is so important to me. Then, I tried a few settings on my iPads and Kindles. Both allow for black on white text, sometimes called inverted text. Wow what a difference, the eye floaters about disappear into the black background. The interference to the white text is minimal. If you are a fellow sufferer give the inverted text settings a try. I find both tablets and e ink both benefit. Just wanted to share this and good luck!

[litemotif]

Thanks for the advice, Neil.

[Sweetpea]

I find that a very bright screen brings it out more pronounced. That's why I always dim my screens (if I compare the settings of my monitors right now, to the ones from my collegues, mine is decidedly yellowish and dark :P)

(and I never knew those things were called floaters!)

[cfrizz]

WTH are eye floaters???? If you are talking about cataracts, there is a simple eye surgery that can take care of it.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

WTH are eye floaters???? If you are talking about cataracts, there is a simple eye surgery that can take care of it.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...s/syc-20372346


I've had floaters since my teens, linked to a bout of Lyme disease. I find eink or non-illuminated LCD screens to be pretty comfortable -- the floaters really show up with an illuminated screen, like a typical tablet.

Note that a sudden increase in floaters can be an indication of a serious problem, and you should get medical advice.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

WTH are eye floaters???? If you are talking about cataracts, there is a simple eye surgery that can take care of it.

See this link from the Mayo clinic: Eye floaters .

My wife suffers from them and to her, it looks as if a semi-transparent flake drifts across her field of vision. If she moves her head suddenly, it's like shaking a snow globe and trying to look through it. They bother her more since her cataract surgery as they are now much more visible.

[PurpleStar]

I have them as well and also tinnitus which makes it difficult to read at times. Black background might be nice but hate reading on the ipad.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

WTH are eye floaters???? If you are talking about cataracts, there is a simple eye surgery that can take care of it.

I wish!!! Nope, totally different from cataracts. There is no treatment, no cure, nothing really. There is one guy in SF who uses a laser to bust them apart but it can also result in worse and is held in deep contempt by the medical community. Basically, crap from the back of your eye sloughs off and floats around. Young people get them and they are usually just temporary as they float to the bottom. Older people get them, their inner eye fluid is thicker, and they stay maybe forever. Or at least long enough to be as good as forever at a certain age. Because of the demographics there is no cure research being done at all in this area as there is no way for Big Pharma to make any money. If they don't price a discovered cure high, they would not get back their research costs let alone profits. If they price it high enough to be profitable most of the older demographic could not afford it and Medicare would not cover it so, again, Big Pharma would lose.

I can still drive and everything and they really only bother people in certain circumstances. If you look at the blue sky, for example, there they all are. Or if you look at a bright, white screen -- voila.

So much worse is possible so I never really complain about them. But I was excited to get my three hour reading sessions back and thought this Forum would be a good place to post what was working for me.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

I have them as well and also tinnitus which makes it difficult to read at times. Black background might be nice but hate reading on the ipad.

The Kindle Oasis in the accessibility setting has an option to invert the screen. I think it is on the Voyager as well and maybe on the Paperwhite.

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by Neil

The Kindle Oasis in the accessibility setting has an option to invert the screen. I think it is on the Voyager as well and maybe on the Paperwhite.

Kindles are hard to come by in Canada and I like my Kobo.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

Kindles are hard to come by in Canada and I like my Kobo.

Check the Kobo forum--I'm pretty sure that there is a patch that allows the inverted text for Kobos, as well.

Shari

[Ken Maltby]

KOReader has a pretty good "Night Mode".

Luck;
Ken

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by cromag

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-...s/syc-20372346


I've had floaters since my teens, linked to a bout of Lyme disease. I find eink or non-illuminated LCD screens to be pretty comfortable -- the floaters really show up with an illuminated screen, like a typical tablet.

Note that a sudden increase in floaters can be an indication of a serious problem, and you should get medical advice.

I've had floaters all my life and just attributed it to my generally bad eyesight, no diseases or anything weird ever happened to me. I finally asked my eye doctor what they were when I was 12 and got contacts for the for the first time, so I've always known what they were. I've only had a few small ones in each eye, and I sometimes would play at trying to "see" them before they floated away out of my vision. If they ever get worse though (68 now and they seem the same as always), it's good know the white text on black will make it be almost unnoticeable, as I love reading.

[silverraven]

And just a side note, everyone knows if you have a sudden increase of floaters, or a large floater appear, (or a flash of light) you should probably get in touch with your eye Dr. There is a chance it could be a detached retina. Especially as we all get older. My husband had the flashes and a huge floater appear suddenly. Eye Dr. wanted to see him that day. Luckily it was not a tear or detachment, just getting older.
S

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by silverraven

My husband had the flashes and a huge floater appear suddenly. Eye Dr. wanted to see him that day. Luckily it was not a tear or detachment, just getting older.

Possibly Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD)? Unfortunately, I've been through that for both eyes, 12 months apart. The first time was quite frightening, I was a bit more relaxed about the second time. Luckily (??? ) the 'huge floater' became lots of little floaters within a day.