Posted by Karl on
URL: https://www.es-forum.com/EHS-and-extreme-light-sensitivity-tp4031629p4031639.html

I tried a lot of things before reading about ES a couple of years ago. Actually, the first memories I have of it were closer to 25 years ago.

I got no benefit from sleep masks. The first things I found that helped were:

- "Indoor/outdoor" sunglasses that are very slightly mirrored. They helped more than I expected for how transparent they are. I wore Elvex SG-200 safety glasses (which have that coating and look like sunglasses) at my old job and I still wear them when biking.

- Putting a wet washcloth over my eyes. (I found that accidentally when I came back once from a long bike ride and cleaned up and went to rest. The sun was shining into my window, so I grabbed a damp towel out of my hamper and put it over my eyes, which made a big difference. I wasn't sleeping well at the time, so it was to hard to ignore and I kept using it for years before reading about ES.)

I think for me it's probably ES-related, but it sounds as though you're not sure if your sensitivity is. The damp cloth is easy to try and won't hurt anything, so that might narrow it down.