[AshX]

I’ve read many posts on this forum, and gleaned some useful suggestions. I’m a year into my journey to find a computer display – laptop or monitor – I can use after getting COVID (again) in 2024. My story is fairly unique and I’m hoping some of the intelligent experts here might be able to think of something myself, and others, have not thus far.

To make a (very) long story short: I’m a professional musician and producer and got COVID in 2022, which triggered some autoimmune health issues: MCTD, POTS, MCAS, and long COVID to name a few. Prior to this I had no issues with computer screens, phones, or LED lighting. After my COVID infection I noticed my left eye would keep shutting when exposed to certain lights. After a year of doctor’s visits showing nothing was wrong (beyond the usual long COVID “we don’t know” stuff), I figured out that flicker seemed to be the big trigger. Certain screens, LEDs, and fluorescents seem to trigger it.

At this point my main devices were an iPhone 13 and a 2019 iMac 21.5” 4K Retina. I kept both devices locked to their respective OS’s I was using at the time (iOS 15 and MacOS Mojave) because they were working for me. I tried to upgrade to the iPhone 15 Pro, and despite using the iPhone 13 Pro briefly before, I couldn’t focus on the 15 Pro’s display. Thus I discovered PWM and temporal dithering (FRC).

Everything was okay until I got COVID for a second time in the summer of 2024, ended up in the hospital, and didn’t use my iMac for 8 months. When I turned the desktop on, immediate eye pain and motion sickness.

Thus I’ve spent the last year buying and returning computers, monitors, phones…in an attempt to be able to get back to producing music. No luck.

My only usable device is an iPhone 13 on iOS 15. I have no problems whatsoever with it. I have no issues with the CarPlay display in my 2022 Chevy Malibu or most self-service kiosks at grocery stores. But I’ve gotten awful neurological and visual symptoms trying every modern iPhone, MacBook, and iPad Apple offers, as well as most PCs running Windows 11 and different monitors, from OLEDs to IPS.

I currently have a 2022 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro Touchbar with the older Retina screens used from 2016-2022. They’re not supposed to have PWM and I’m not sure if they use FRC. I am able to disable GPU dithering with the program Stillcolor; but it doesn’t help. I can barely look at the display for a few minutes. The MacBook Air M4 (also LCDs) triggered a seizure aura. It was terrifying.

The only two displays that I actually seemed to tolerate were true 10-bit displays. I tested the Apple Pro Display XDR and the Eizo CS2740 and seemed to actually be able to look at them for a few minutes in store, before the LED lightning triggered me. But boy are they expensive, and I’d like to really narrow down why this MacBook Pro is triggering me so badly.

Right now I’ve narrowed the triggers down (in order of severity) to:

-spatial and temporal dithering (FRC)
-gray color flicker (some sort of transistor flicker that is very aggressive on many Macs)
-PWM if it is at a low frequency with high modulation
-Blue light (it doesn’t help, but I can’t figure out why sometimes it’s an issue and sometimes it isn’t)
-brightness

Other variables I wonder about include:

-anti-glare coating (the macs I’ve noticed have a very strong purple tint)
-polarization (I can’t use polarized sunglasses and the iPhone is circularly polarized)
-refresh rate (iPhone is 60Hz but I wonder if OLEDs refresh dip is functionally different from LCDs refresh raye(
-KSF phosphor and QD

I know this is a very, very odd case. I really only need a computer to run Avid Pro Tools, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro. But I have 15 years of hard drives with sessions formatted for MacOS, so it’s hard to leave the eco system, especially since Windows 11 utilizes system wide dithering now.

Thank you for any advice or suggestions you may be able to offer.

[PCM2]

Hi AshX,

That is indeed unusual and I’m sorry to hear about your case. You’ve clearly considered a lot of viewing comfort factors and it’s certainly possible (and likely) there are multiple triggers for this. It’s difficult to know what to suggest trying next without knowing exactly which monitors you’ve used. Are you able to list some of the monitors you’ve used and found problematic?

[AshX]

This is a great article and summary, thank you.

My experience is definitely unique in that prior to my 2022 COVID infection, I had no issues with screens. And after my 2024 re-infection, and time away from any screen other than my iPhone, I seem to have lost tolerance to certain screens. Since February 2025 I have tried the following displays and devices and found them uncomfortable:

-13-inch MacBook Air M4
-15-inch MacBook Air M4 (seizure-like symptoms when setting the computer up)
-2011 Apple Thunderbolt Display (I suspect the double paned glass, which created a double image when the display was off and you observed a reflection in the glass, was the issue)
-Dell S2722DC (text clarity issues)
-HP Omen Transcend 31.5” QD-OLED (could not focus on screen, tested another QD OLED and the monitor settings panel was completely blurry and I couldn’t make out any of the text at all)
-13” Dell Latitude 5300 (was fine on Windows 10, eye focusing and eye pulling symptoms on Windows 11)
-iPad Pro 11” M5 (tachycardia, eye pain at reduced brightness)
-Apple Studio Display (eye shuts, tachycardia/panicked feeling even when forcing 8-bit in store using BetterDisplay)
-27” 5K BENQ (seemed okay with an 8-bit output, got uncomfortable with the same tachycardia and panicked symptoms when outputting 10-bit, I assume it engaged FRC)
-I’ve tested the iMac 24” and MacBook Pros in store. Can’t download Stillcolor to disable dithering but my left eye either shut while using them or I had eye focusing issues or tachycardia
-2015 15” MAcBook Pro Retina. Most tolerable out of the bunch in that there’s no immediate eye pain, but start to get spaced out and eye focusing issues after a few minutes. It’s on MacOS Catalina. It also has the gray color flicker
-iPhone 5 on iOS 9. Eye focusing issues on gray images. It appears to have bad pixel inversion or temporal dithering

Devices I once used comfortably and either no longer own or stopped tolerating:

-2019 21.5” iMac 4K Retina. Tolerated it previously. Has gray color flicker. Found a new sealed one recently to test on Catalina and immediate tachycardia and eye focusing on startup. Returned. Used to be my go to machine for 12+ hours a day from 2019-2024.

-2022 iPad Pro M2 12.9”. Was fine until iOS 17

-2019 13” MacBook Pro Retina Touchbar Intel. Used this from 2019-2021 with no issues

-2021 14” MacBook Pro M1 Pro on Monterey 12.1 MiniLED. Used this from May 2022-Oct 2022 when I sadly sold it for medical bills after the first COVID. I remember when I first got the computer I thought the screen looked very comfortable, which surprised me.

Current usable devices:

-iPhone 13 on iOS 15.6.1. My only usable device. No issues whatsoever. My mom has an iphone 13 from the same year and it’s the least awful I’ve seen. It was horrible on iOS 16 and 17 but seems okay on iOS 18

Interestingly in May 2023 when I realized I could not use the iPhone 15 Pro, I took my iPhone 13 (manufactured 2021 or 2022) to several stores and held it side by side the new iPhone 13’s manufactured in 2023, on iOS 17 I believe, and could not tolerate any of them. So there seems to be a difference in panel manufacturer between those years alongside iOS

-2022 Chevy Malibu CarPlay screen (also tested a 2025 model with the same LCD and it was fine). Not something you’d want to read on, but no lasting symptoms with it

I haven’t used a television in years, though prior to all this I used a 2012 Samsung P51 Plasma with no issues, if that helps at all.

I also have videos in 240 fps or 1/4000 shutter speed of problematic devices. My current MBP doesn’t seem to have that gray color flicker that appears to be an LCD voltage flicker at 60Hz, which is partially why I bought it. The only monitors that didn’t seem to cause me issues were the Pro Display XDR and Eizo CS2740, but I don’t know how they’d do over a long period of time.

[PCM2]

That’s quite a list and I can only imagine the frustration of trying to find a monitor that’s actually usable. I’m also struggling to pinpoint what could be causing it. I know your case is different but I know some people who were sensitive to many monitors in a way that caused face irritation or a burning sensation. There’s a long-running thread of people reporting this and some of the things they found helpful.

In your case you could have high sensitivity to multiple ‘fluctuations’, be it electromagnetic or visual. Flickering (even the slight cyclical brightness dips of OLEDs), dithering and other visual artifacts could be triggers but so could things you don’t “see”. With some of the devices you better tolerate being generally smaller and therefore ‘lower total emitters’ of anything that could be problematic, I wonder if this is something that could be improved by moving a monitor further back?

I’ve also been aware of some people over the years who have very specific spectral sensitivities that can trigger visual discomfort. So it might be worth trying out an LCD monitor with QD-LED backlight. I would recommend the MSI MPG 274URF QD for example, though that can be difficult to get hold of at times. I’d also be interested to know if you’ve tried a very strong Low Blue Light (LBL) style setting before, typically stronger than what most monitors would include. For example, using Windows night light at a strength of perhaps 70% or higher.

[AshX]

Thanks for replying again, PCM2, and thinking outside the box. I read the first page of that thread just now (will have to spend some time reading through the rest) and it’s fascinating. All those folks seem to be describing one of my conditions, MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome), commonly triggered by a COVID or influenza infection, and co-morbid with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome).

My MCAS symptoms have gotten much worse the past 12 months after I moved into an apartment that we found out had been flooded in the basement beneath us 4 times, and have discovered toxic black mold. It’s gotten so bad that I’m reacting to things like perfumes or fragrances, as well as chemicals. Prior to this I would’ve classified my MCAS as “mild.” Now, it’s severe. I doubt it’s any coincidence my screen sensitivities have worsened since moving here, as has my skin. This property is also right next to a power substation and my lights frequently blow out. I actually just had to a replace a brand new microwave that got shorted. I can feel the electricity coming through anything plugged into the walls when I touch chargers.

One of the big symptoms I got when testing the MacBook Air M4 laptops was feeling like the skin around my eyes was being sunburned. It was bizarre, and some screens (like the iMac 2019) still do it. FRC and bad PWM will actually trigger full-blown hives. This has only happened when testing in stores like B&H and Best Buy where I really pushed it by testing multiple screens and going past my tolerance.

It’s funny you mention my sensitivity to fluctuations. I actually was lucky enough to interact with someone at a major tech company and their analysis was similar. As crazy as it sounds, a well-respected neuro-ophthalmologist I saw in the fall actually said this sort of electromagnetic sensitivity and intolerance was common among people with my medical conditions. I was shocked, to be honest, because I never once considered that to be a trigger…but this was coming from a traditional MD at a major medical center.

Given the immediacy of symptoms, I’ve suspected it’s either the light source itself or flicker. Or perhaps even the refresh rate. I wonder if the iPhone’s AMOLED LTPS display’s 60Hz OLED dip is less triggering than a 60Hz LCD refresh? Is there a functional difference? Or is the estimated 580Hz PWM masking it somehow?

What makes me wonder if it’s not just the display engine of the Macs is when I briefly had a 2011 27” Thunderbolt Display (I returned it after it started burning) and connected it to my Mac, even glancing at the screen from across the room caused issues. The display had a 2nd pane of glass. You can see here what it looked like when off. I wondered if that was behind most of my issues, as my eyes and brain might be trying to compensate even more. Videos caused a ton of motion sickness and blurry vision. It’s strange because I don’t have issues at all on my iPhone with any videos or video games.

(Image of my acoustic guitar’s neck)

That monitor sounds like it would be worth a try. I did try boosting Night Shift to maximum on MacOS and it seemed to help a bit. I am also using a calibrated ICC color profile using a D50 white point someone gave me who also has screen issues but found success with this computer. The laptop allegedly doesn’t have PWM, but below 50% brightness it gets uncomfortable. It is very bright, though. It’s quite unfortunate because I owned the 2019 Intel model of this and used it every evening for years prior to getting sick. I sold it to upgrade to the 2021 14” MBP, which I haven’t owned since 2022.

Clearly my health is playing a huge role. Unfortunately, I’m trying to find at least a temporary workaround so I can get back to some semblance of mixing work to help pay for all the doctors I should be seeing that will hopefully help. A catch-22…

I’d like to believe there is some solution out there. It’s not like I can’t tolerate any screens. But finding a pattern is proving to be difficult a year later.

[AshX]

Latest update.

I ended up selling the 13” M2 MacBook Pro Touchbar and picked up a new MacBook Neo. I tested it in store and didn’t get any of the eye focusing problems. I could not look at any of the new M5 MacBooks or the new Studio Displays as they immediately caused my left eye to close. The glossy iMac M4 was the only one I could look at.

I’ve owned the Neo for about a week. According to NoteBookCheck’s review the Neo uses temporal dithering. It also apparently uses PWM, according to other sources. It is an sRGB 218 PPI panel with the ability to reach 1.07 billion colors.

I’ve only been able to make the Neo usable for extended periods of time by calibrating the color profile to a D55 white point and putting Night Shift on maximum. Using Stillcolor to disable GPU dithering and disabling font smoothing helps to make text legible without my eyes refocusing all the time. I’ve also disabled “dim display while on battery power” and “automatically adjust brightness” which seems to have helped stabilize the backlight somewhat. The display gets uncomfortable below 40% brightness or so.

If I don’t have Night Shift on I immediately start to get symptoms of a seizure aura. This display does not have True Tone. I do not know if it uses a standard YAG phosphor W-LED backlight or KSF (PFS). It is not a wide color display.

My friend lent me an Eizo CS2740. Eizo’s product manager confirmed to me it is true 10-bit and does not use FRC or PWM. Immediately upon connecting both the MacBook Neo and a Dell Latitude 5300 running Windows 11, I get incredibly severe seizure aura symptoms. I even get milder versions of these symptoms when turning the display on without a device connected with the Eizo logo bouncing around a black screen. I connected both devices via USB-C. I wrote to Eizo asking what backlight type they use.

So perhaps KSF is a trigger as is blue light. What is odd is my iPhone 13 OLED doesn’t need any special settings. I held it side by side by MacBook Neo laptop and the iPhone was much more blue compared to the Neo with maximum Night Shift settings, yet the Neo was much more uncomfortable.

Is it true OLED has 30% as much blue light as W-LED? I don’t understand this.

[PCM2]

That’s interesting. So blue light and spectral sensitivity seems to be a big factor here.

OLED screens (including WOLED and QD-OLED) produce significantly less blue light at a given brightness level. Exactly how much less depends on the WLED model you’re comparing to, but for standard or KSF phopshor WLED it would be in the ballpark of 30% – 50% of the emission for the OLED vs WLED. It’s the advantage of having self-emissive pixels with finely tuned output rather than a strong backlight with pronounced blue peak filtered imperfectly through the pixels. The overall mechanism is the same for QD-OLED and WOLED, but recent WOLED models also have a purposefully shifted (less energetic) blue peak as well and have a specific ‘Eyesafe Circadian’ verification which attaches a useful metric. They emit 36% blue light compared to 70-80% blue light for a typical LCD. Reducing brightness and setting a warmer colour temperature will yield a further reduction.

[AshX]

Thank you for sharing this technical info and confirming I’m not off-base here about the backlight and overall spectral output being a trigger. I think that I’ve missed it so far because the conventional wisdom among many in the screen sensitive community is to avoid Night Shift because of assumptions it utilizes dithering. As a result, I’ve never been able to make it more than a minute or two with most displays on default settings unless they were in a very bright store environment like Best Buy or the Apple Store. Perhaps the strong ambient lighting reduces the impact somewhat of the screens, compared to my fairly dark apartment?

The MacBook Neo piqued my interest because it looked markedly different in the review videos before release – more like an older 2011-2015 MacBook Pro or an iPad than the modern KSF Macs. It also has a gray antiglare coating instead of the usual purple coating that is on MacBooks, and I’ve wondered if that was a trigger, too. The eye focusing problems seem largely resolved with the tweaks I mentioned, but the neurological symptoms remain and I’m not quite sure how to narrow down what they might be. One review showed 240 fps slow motion microscope footage on different % gray tones and detected what appears to be temporal dithering. They did not test it with GPU dithering disabled, so we don’t know if this is still a problem. I have been told the display is FRC capable and is using PWM.

So it seems those are significant sources of flicker, but I have no idea how to assess their impact of my symptoms. My iPhone 13 has a 610Hz PWM frequency with a very low modulation depth, and doesn’t bother me at all. It’s locked at 60Hz and is an LTPS display. I’ve often wondered how refresh rate differs on an AMOLED like this compared to an LCD. Apple has told me that they believe the refresh rate is a trigger for me, yet I’ve only ever used 60Hz screens, so I can’t see why or how.

Right now I’m trying to tease out the variables and hopefully match symptoms to them. I’d love recommendations on how to do that, if you, or anyone else has any.

I have a week left before the 14-day return window ends. I think what makes this especially difficult is I’m not sure how far to push things. Using the device for 20 minutes on Tuesday caused a bad flare up of visual snow and bad light sensitivity for the remainder of the day. The severity of reactions is physically and emotionally exhausting and upsetting, but I keep trying. I can’t quite understand why my CarPlay LCD is fine (it does use dark mode) day or night. Is it just from acclimating to it or is there a fundamental difference in the hardware and software compared to the Neo? No idea how to test for these factors.

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