Something that may help you is putting everything on dark mode. If you can’t read white text on a black background there are other options. There are dark mode extensions for most web browsers too. With ipad and iPhone you can also access screen brightness in the control panel. I turn my brightness up and down all day and have my phone set to emit warm light at sunset (called Night Shift). There are also a ton of color options in Accessibility (became very familiar with these thanks to migraines). I’m skipping a lot of details here, this is a big topic.

There are plastic overlays you can put over paper to reduce that white glare and they come in tons of colors. Some people put them on computer screens too.

Try out different kinds of sunglasses and see if you can get comfortable with having a pair of indoor shades (as well as a darker outdoor pair if you need it). A good hat is also very helpful; there’s no shame in a bucket or cowboy hat if it’s got the light blocking coverage you need (you can get a custom made hat in some places even). I find baseball caps don’t cut it for overhead glare reduction but they might work for you.

Try lighting in your office that’s in corners or around the edges instead of directly overhead. Christmas lights can be for all year or you can get strings of smart lights that are more adjustable.

Reducing white wall space by putting up pictures and posters can help a lot too.

A lot of dealing with photosensitivity is little cheap tricks to reduce glare and change where the light is coming from.

I have albinism, which is clinically a different condition than albino, but related. It comes with some pretty serious photosensitivity. My eyes let in too much light, which is fun at night because my kids can't see me coming in low light when I can still see them pretty well, but it's not so much fun in the day or times like dusk when there is significant light scatter even thought it's not bright. I also have a lot of trouble driving at night in cities and suburbs where light pollution feels bewildering and disorienting to me.

You might benefit from a blue light monitor filter or anti-glare filter for the devices you have more trouble with. You probably won't benefit from the auto-adjusting brightness features on some devices because they'll never get it quite right. Set your screen brightness low and adjust as needed. Another user mentioned using dark mode whenever possible, which is excellent advice, though it can be startling when you go from dark mode to a site or app that doesn't support it, so be aware of that.

I get agitated in the warm light spectrum and am most comfortable at 5,000K or higher. I've changed most of the lights in my house since coming to realize this and it's really helped me. It's important (for me, at least) to really do the research about any light device I want to make sure it's within the cool spectrum range and a lot of lights designed for residential use are in the warm spectrum range. I also make sure most lights in my house are dimmable so I can set them to my preferred brightness (getting smart lights or smart bulbs really helps with all of this because they can be set to whatever colors make you comfortable and you can adjust how much light they put out easily in an app - set it and forget it). During the day, I prefer muted sunlight and don't turn lights on.

I have a nightlight that comes on automatically in the dark for my bathroom. I cannot stand to turn a light on at night and the nightlight is plenty for me to see with to use the bathroom. If you're not as sensitive as me, try two nightlights or have smart bulbs that you can set to a much dimmer setting at night (if you use something like Alexa, you can set timers on your smart bulbs or lamps so that they do these things automatically).

If you wear prescription glasses and need sunglasses due to photosensitivity, there are glasses that have magnets on them so you can add sunglasses to your prescription lenses. This makes your shades look more like regular glasses with darker lenses and I get asked less frequently to remove them indoors like I did sunglasses that looked more like sunglasses. Public places can be really bright and I have social anxiety, so this helps on both of those fronts for me.

You may need multiple different sunglasses, such as lighter ones for indoors and polarized darker ones for outdoors. Always get anti-glare coating, as well. If you use prescription glasses, get anti-glare coating on those to further assist with screens. If you don't wear prescription glasses, you can get anti-glare glasses without a prescription to wear when you're using screens.

I do not recommend transitioning lenses unless they've made significant improvements in the last decade. They have difficulty going dark in situations where you really need them to like in a car and can take too long to adjust in general. It's much better, imo, to just change your glasses or add or remove sunglasses.

If you have to work with overhead lights, see if you can wear a brimmed hat. I prefer a boonie hat because the brim goes all the way around and I'm not going to get a burst of light in my periphery if I turn my head just so like with a ball cap. In a work situation, you may need to request it as an accommodation for disability.

I also wear my boonie in stores where the overhead light can be glaring and I certainly wear it outside, not only to mute sunlight in my eyes, but also to protect my obnoxiously fair skin.

If your eyes feel strained from too much light, find a darker place to chill with your eyes closed for a while. When you're light sensitive, too much light can trigger a migraine, so pay attention to what your eyes and head are telling you. For me, being out in the sun or exposed to excessive indoor light can make me feel sick, as well.

E-reader screens can be much easier to tolerate, but, of course, their use is very limited. I prefer to write on a digital notebook that uses e-ink technology as it doesn't have the glare of paper and I can control the backlight (some, like the Remarkable don't have a backlight, but the screen doesn't glare either way).

Best wishes on your journey adapting to the glaring world. I hope you can find answers.

I think it's always helpful to share what we've learned. Yes, some of us may know it already but people are suddenly afflicted with vision issues and looking for answers and tips at all times. This sub also gets frequent traffic from family and caregivers who are looking for tips to help accommodate others.

I also have photophobia. My biggest surprise has been that ophthalmologists don't really factor it in when reporting what you can see. Yes my glasses correct to 20/80 vision in my one eye, but not if the sun is out, or the floor is reflective, or the screen is too bright, or....

I just wanted to say I appreciate this thread. I have been dealing with worse photophobia the last year (or at least my ability to tolerate it got worse after I was pregnant in that rather than it just being painful, it triggers migraines).

I find that overhead lighting in low ceilings, lights near eye-level, and white surfaces are more difficult for me. I’ve painted my studio darker gray and put a black tablecloth on my work table, which cuts down on light reflection. I’m cultivating a collection of fabulous broad-brimmed hats.

At a recent doctor’s appointment he said that I’m a poor surgical risk and recommended I “control the light” in my surroundings, which is infuriatingly impossible if I’m not at home. He did mention that there is a kind of sunglasses that don’t shift color, just contrast, and they might help me. I forgot what they’re called.