Has anyone else's eyesight deteriorated after more than a year of VR?

drkaii

drkaii
EDIT: Not a single case of anyone finding it has made their eyesight worse, and I've also asked on reddit and had 10s of responses. Don't worry! Been to the optician and I'm just a bit short sighted - getting glasses!

Mine definitely noticeably has but I am not sure if it's because I'm just getting older, or if it is directly related to the rift.

I always (well since around age 20 - I am 30 now) had the problem that my eyesight was slightly worse in the evening, or after reading/looking at my phone for too long and needed sleep to reset.

Now it still resets after sleep and is pretty good in the mornings, sometimes it even feels perfect, but as the day goes on it gets worse and worse and by night fall it's pretty bad that I'd need glasses to be able to enjoy TV (like read subtitles in anime, or play with the steam link and read game menus etc.) I don't have glasses yet but I've needed them for a few months now and will sort out when I've got the finances.

I am very suspicious of the rift. It really has got much worse over the year or so I've been using it. I am 30 this year so could be that, but I am inclined to think that the rift ruins your long-range focus, because it trains your eyes to use near-focus for distant objects.

I am not an optometrist and even optometrists, I've found, all seem to disagree about how eyes work so I doubt there will be any scientific answer anytime soon, but perhaps you guys have had similar and that would be a good indication that the tech is the cause.

If so, I find it a huge shame, as my eyesight is extremely precious to me. And yet I find it hard to be filled with regret as VR is also very important to me (although of course nowhere near as important).

If it turns out it is the rift, I think people should know. It's a very important decision to make.
 

VR andysonofbob

VR andysonofbob
Nope. Quite the contrary.

I am personally suspicious of glasses!

EDIT! Phone pressed enter!

I used wear glasses (short sighted). On my honeymoon went whale watching. I forgot to wear glasses. I had to stare at long distances for a good few hours. Returned to land and could see again! I can legally drive without glasses now!

I have been gaming in 3D for about 8 years now. I have read loads of jounals. What you notice is that any eye strain reported is the exact same eyestrain as you would get from staring at a screen. (Not that that makes it OK!) All the negative effects (apart from the initial disorientation) are the same as what you would get if your retinas were staring at the same depth for a long period of time.

Obviously take anything you read from a random foromite with a pinch of salt but

I think VR gets you to focus on the mid range hence the requirements for adjusting the lenses for far sighted people. If you are concerned just make sure you spend quality time resting your eyes by staring at distant objects.

Just watch for lampost if you are doing this when you are walking!
 
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TorTorden_VR

T
One.

Get to an optometrist or a specialist, glasses aren't a luxury. If you need the you NEED THEM!.
Ignoring the problem will only speed up any deterioration.
Two.
Ask any older male, I am assuming you are a man, family members how their eyesight is faring, and or changed over the years.
Of course the natural male response is to ignore these things.
Personally I had a toenail that grew into my toe, but ignored it until it was leaking and half my foot was turning black, just swallow any macho pride and see a doctor.

I haven't had vr that long, since the start of summer, but I have been using glasses since I was 8 years old, and naturally use glasses with vr.
 
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Shar

Shar
I think your right as your brain will adjust to interpret what your eyes see over a prolonged period of time. A good example is the old curved screen monitors which many of us spent many years looking at, then when i got my first dead flat monitor it looked like it was concave, i asked my optometrist at the time and he told me my brain would adjust in a couple of weeks which it did. So one may assume that VR might play tricks on you visual perception given enough time. If your concerned may pay to do some research on the subject personally I'm waiting until about the third generation of these devises until i subject myself to them. Ive been told once you have one there is no going back. [cool]

Like everything moderation is your best bet and everybody's eyes are different so opinions are just that. Speak to a professional.
 
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Cliché

Cliché
drkaii said:
... but I am inclined to think that the rift ruins your long-range focus, because it trains your eyes to use near-focus for distant objects.
Click to expand...
That is not the case. I had 20-20 sight into my 40's, and then it went south very quickly. Now I can't focus on anything closer than 6-8 feet w/o glasses, but still have decent long rang sight. I don't use glasses with the Rift, so I'm certainly not using near-focus!
 

Frank

Frank
I know it can be nasty when something happens that you haven't budgeted for. This is one of these times. Go see an opticians.

My eyesight is deteriorating, but only in the standard ageing manner. This means that I find it easier to focus on things in the distance, and so I actually find my CV1 more comfortable than playing on a monitor where I'm focussing at around 2m away.

If you've got glasses to watch your telly then it sounds like you already visited your opticians. You don't have to wait until your 2 years is up to go visit them instead.
 

TorTorden_VR

T
Cliché said:
That is not the case. I had 20-20 sight into my 40's, and then it went south very quickly. Now I can't focus on anything closer than 6-8 feet w/o glasses, but still have decent long rang sight. I don't use glasses with the Rift, so I'm certainly not using near-focus!
Click to expand...

Yeah this actually opposite.
The lenses focuses to infinity, the very opposite of near field.
 
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drkaii

drkaii
TorTorden said:
Yeah this actually opposite.
The lenses focuses to infinity, the very opposite of near field.
Click to expand...

Can you show me where this is stated by Oculus? If that's so then that's awesome.

Also, yes I accept the advice to get it sorted sooner rather than later, I will do so, thanks for the push.

Lastly, I agree that sometimes these things actually improve your eyesight. When I got 3D Vision about 5 years ago, I remember that all the extra exercise they were giving my eyes was actually improving my vision. The effect didn't last that long though, probably because I started over-using it.
 

CaptainKremmen

CaptainKremmen
Apparently, eyesight can degenerate quite rapidly between the ages of 40 to 50. That ten-year period probably keeps optometrists in business. :)
 

UniMag

U
Cliché said:
That is not the case. I had 20-20 sight into my 40's, and then it went south very quickly. Now I can't focus on anything closer than 6-8 feet w/o glasses, but still have decent long rang sight. I don't use glasses with the Rift, so I'm certainly not using near-focus!
Click to expand...

Same here. Always had perfect vision until recently. I've gradually noticed the text getting blurrier when using the iPad, tried my wife's reading glasses on it was crystal clear. So made an appointment to get them checked out and ended up ordering myself some.

I can't say the rift has made it worse, it's probably because I've spent most of my life in front of a computer screen.
 

drkaii

drkaii
I've booked an appt. at the optician, hopefully he will have a fair knowledge of these things and will be able to advise. I can't find any info on the focal depth of the rift but I've tried rapidly removing the rift to reveal the clouds and found that I had to re-focus so I don't think it is infinite. So could very well be contributing to the problem. Also, seeing as I find it hard to focus long distance, and am fine in the rift, that could be part of the puzzle. Then again it is fairly pixelated so I probably wouldn't notice if I wasn't seeing it 100% clearly.

Strangely, my poor vision isn't "blurriness" per se, but more like horizontal splitting. I find it harder to read words because they kind of double, the original above, and the second version slightly below, and kinda glowing.

Is that what short sightedness is actually like? I've always thought of it as just blur
 

-VR- Max Factor

-VR- Max Factor
I am short sighted so you would think I would be fine in the rift. It is not. I need my glasses to see stuff otherwise it is blurry like real life is.
 

drkaii

drkaii
=71st=RuSh said:
Read this article:

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/08/virtual-reality-are-health-risks-being-ignored-commentary.html
Click to expand...

Doesn't seem to mention anything about focal distance?

Cliché said:
You may want to review this:

https://developer3.oculus.com/documentation/intro-vr/latest/concepts/bp_app_imaging/

It seems to be based on the DK2, which had an apparent focal distance, eyes to screen, of 1.3 meters, with objects supposed to be rendered between .75 and 3.5 meters. Everything I've been able to find says the DK1, CV1, and Vive, are set for an infinite screen focal distance, but I assume things can still be rendered closer.
Click to expand...

The focal distance for HMDs has to be fixed, by definition. It is only a single, non-adjusting lens. Maybe I am missing something in the physics but I have no idea what any of that means, but it isn't related to my question, except the 1.3m figure, which I've seen and feels right. I'd like to know what distance our short sighted gentleman max factor is able to see clearly to see if that is true. If it is more than 1.3 meters then the jury is still out.
 

TorTorden_VR

T
Max Factor said:
I am short sighted so you would think I would be fine in the rift. It is not. I need my glasses to see stuff otherwise it is blurry like real life is.
Click to expand...

I was thought it was a well known fact that the lenses in the rift and Vive focus the light off the panels to the same as light reflected off a far off surface, I don't have sources but my personal experience with the rift and Vive support this claim.

If it wasn't, me and other myopic users wouldn't need glasses in them, like we obviously do.
Whereas my brother in law who is mostly far sighted does not.

I also have some weird contacts on trial basis that aren't dialed in yet, I don't really like wearing contacts since often they don't correct as much as my glasses do so normally they aren't worth the expense, but of course vr looks and feels better without lenses but that is beside the point.

these contacts seem to be somewhat skewed in near field but fine at distances outside of 2.5m.
Doing, stuff, with these are quite weird but using them in VR I don't notice anything to the skew at all.

Also, in general, fatigue plays a huge part in eyesight and cognition, this is why fitness is huge deal in special forces, police or other quick response professions. Well at least it should be.

If you are fatigued or just plain tired. You are able to focus less on details. You over all field of view narrows.

As for 40-50 yes that's the most common age, but your eyesight changes considerably throughout and 20/20 isn't actually very good, it's just not bad.

As mentioned I have been dependent on glasses since I was 8 years old. And for those 28 years I have been updating my prescription almost annually, and my glasses cost about as much as the rift does.
Some years I have needed less change than others but there has also been leaps.

Now as I have hit the 30+ I have been moving from a -4.5 myopia towards a -4.
In short if it's more than 8 inches from my face, I can't focus on it without glasses...

Best of luck
 
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