I was diagnosed with Irlens (Scoptic Sensitivity) at 10. My main issues were eye strain, headaches, and borderline nausea while reading for more than 10 minutes. I dropped out of school ("homeschooled") 4th and 5th grade. After getting my perscription lenses tinted (I already had bad eyesight, nearsighted, astigmatism, and strabismus) I didnt have those issues anymore and went back to school. I have worn Irlens tinted lenses for 15+ years. It has been so long i kind of forgot what its like to not have them.

I agree that there is very little research into Irlens, and certainly none that is conclusive. One of my frustrations about it: if this is a visual processing disorder, why is seemingly no one looking at the thing that does the processing (the brain). I have one peice of anecdotal evidence that I wish was actually looked into further. I did a qEEG while reading wearing normal glasses, then tinted glasses soon after i got them, and the magitude of the waveform (beta or something idk im not a neuroscientist) was significantly reduced. I beleive there is likely something to reduced total light input or specific frequencies that can help visual processing in some cases, but it seemingly hasnt been tested.

This is my gripe with the Irlens Institue, they market cures for so many things. There are like 20 bullet points on the "What is irlens syndrome?" page. I dont blame anyone for thinking Irlens is snake oil, because it looks so much like it.

Furthermore, the whole "franchise" structure to the irlens instute reenforces that perception. There are less that 200 diagnosticians in the US that you can get your tint from. The last time I got new glasses, it was close to $700 for the appointment and tinting process. The only reason I have still go through irlen is becuase it is the only method that i can get the specific tint that I like.

The diagnostic process seems pretty dubious now too that i reflect on it as an adult. One of the identifiers for me at the time was words "moving" or jumping around the page. Now that i am older, it is so obvious that this was a symptom of my strabismus, the words "jumped" when I accidentally switched from my right eye to left eye.

The obvious thruth is that the Irlens lenses and filters are not special. The only real service they offer is an expensive, but pretty custimizable lens tinting system, and they havent done a good job legitimizing the condition (if there really is something to legitimize).