I spent a long time researching this and ended up seeing two eye specialists. It's not just the flicker, alas, it's the wavelengths of light as well, at least this is what the specialists tell me. I find that strip lighting (where the flicker is worse, right?) is hell on earth, but that I can still spot ordinary fluorescent lighting pretty fast. The one starts giving me a headache immediately, the other takes longer to kick in but I notice it if I try to read. That said, I have no idea if any of the fluorescent bulbs I've encountered have been the fancy new variety, how common are they? Have they changed the light colour at all? I've tried a bright light box (http://lumie.com/brightlights.htm) (the one on the right) which used a high frequency ballast (I remember fussing over this down the phone to the manufacturers) but still give me a pounding migraine. I tried it obediently for a while and then sent it back. I've got an LED lightbox (http://apollohealth.com/golite.html) now and I'm absolutely fine with it, apart from very rare occasions when I'm sleep deprived and headachy (which is unsurprising for bright light two feet away from your eyes). That said, I've met a couple of people who couldn't stand the light, D for one, but we think it's the colour they're reacting to.
Incidentally, my fancy specialist glasses are tinted blue, apparently that's the most common colour for people who have difficulty with fluorescent light, though the specialist did spend ages assessing me anyway.
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Date: Friday, 16 March 2007 09:57 pm (UTC)From:Incidentally, my fancy specialist glasses are tinted blue, apparently that's the most common colour for people who have difficulty with fluorescent light, though the specialist did spend ages assessing me anyway.