Thanks for sharing your experiences, I appreciate it. I think I'm the opposite in that I can't use any kind of dark modes, only light modes - my white on black contrast is really bad.
For the screen, I prefer a matte 1080p display to reduce glare and reflections. I prefer this to 4k screens.
I have been wearing lenses for 3 years but as I'm sure you might know it can be hard at times. Sometimes your eyes are not up to it or just having off-days is quite common for me. Then there's the issue of how to take out and put in the lenses at work without being stared at.
Dark modes for me help fight the "staring into the sun" effect I get from predominantly white screens, but obviously it's not a fix for everyone.
Matte displays, definitely want to cut down on glare. If you can avoid white desk surfaces, do, it's surprising how much difference that makes. Room lighting generally makes a big difference.
I use font settings in Linux (primarily a Linux user) to scale font sizes system wide. At my worst I was up to 150% scaling and still struggling. I found 1080p on a 23in display was ok for reading, but I found myself wanting more on the screen. I've found 2550x1440 on a 27in display to be the sweet spot. 4k at any size would be a disaster, a denser crisper display isn't helpful if your vision isn't sharp enough to give you the details.
Managing lenses at work is a genuine pain. I used to (working from home since COVID makes this unnecessary) carry a small toiletries bag in my work bag with the solutions, storage cases, etc I needed for my lenses. I also had a small mirror in the bag as well, and could do whatever I needed to do at my desk. I never had problems with people staring, I was pretty open about my visual difficulties (e.g. if looking over a colleagues shoulder to diagnose a problem I'd often be asking them to read me the error message), which I think helps people understand.
Occasionally my eyes just aren't up to lens wear, I'll usually try to get through the work day and pop them out as soon as I get home to give my eyes a rest, and try to get through to a weekend. Then go without lenses entirely over the weekend to recover.
Colds and flus are the worst as the constant nose blowing will force stuff into your eyes. I'm fortunate in that I've never suffered from allergies, but I'd imagine that's the same. But generally if my eyes are regularly not tolerating a lens it's usually a sign that the lens is problematic, and time to see the optom again.
It took me quite a number of years to get properly comfortable wearing the lenses though, and small variables stuff things up. Even the specific cleaners, storage fluid and wetting fluids you use makes a difference. I found some would irritate my eye ever so slightly (which was enough to make lens wear really uncomfortable), but switching to a different product made a world of difference.
I have the same issue with staring into the sun. I basically have my machines set permanently to low blue light/night shift mode and it makes a big difference for me.
>4k at any size would be a disaster, a denser crisper display isn't helpful if your vision isn't sharp enough to give you the details.
- exactly my experience.
I've only tried Ubuntu but I found the font scaling, at least via the settings menu to be limited somewhat compared to Windows. I've found Windows the most comfortable to use vs my MacOS work machine. I'm sure Linux has ways to configure scaling under the hood but I didn't look into it.
I've also found that if I had a cold lately my eyes tend to tolerate the lenses much less. It's strange how the cold even manifests itself in my eyes and vision.
For the screen, I prefer a matte 1080p display to reduce glare and reflections. I prefer this to 4k screens.
I have been wearing lenses for 3 years but as I'm sure you might know it can be hard at times. Sometimes your eyes are not up to it or just having off-days is quite common for me. Then there's the issue of how to take out and put in the lenses at work without being stared at.