Hyderabad: When teenagers constantly read on tablets or play video games till late into the night, it disturbs their circadian cycle, delays sleep and make them less productive the next morning.
Ophthalmologist Dr Deepa Shilpika said, “The short wavelength enriched light emitted from these devices makes one alert in the night which causes a shift in the biological clock. Even the new age e-ink screens are not very effective especially when teenagers are reading at night. We are finding a lot of teenagers who read e-books coming with multiple sight issues.”
A 12-year-old student loved playing games and also read on screens, suffered problems as his right eye took more strain than the left eye. The child could not understand the symptoms and it was only during an annual eye check-up that the problem was discovered and doctors had to work on weaning him off the screen.
Dr Shilpika added, “The best solution is making them active by seeing the outdoor and real world. The parents (in the case of the 12-year-old child) were co-operative and they took that extra effort and paid the required attention, which helped tackle the problem considerably. But the damage that the eye had suffered did leave him with thick glasses which will take a long period of time to stabilise.”
Sale of artificial tear drops rise
Sales of artificial tear drops has increased 50 per cent because people within the age group of 12 to 40 years are increasingly suffering dry eyes, say experts.
Ophthalmologist Dr Narahari Y. said, “We are seeing too many teenagers and young men suffering from this problem. Those working for eight to 10 hours before a screen and later on smart phones are the worst affected. To add to this, some of them even read on tablets at night, which is not a good practice. Due to this reason the blinking rate of the eyes has reduced from 11 to 14 times per minute to five to six times per minute. This affects the tear glands which keep the eyes moist and as the normal mechanism is affected, artificial tear drops have to be prescribed.”
There are 700 ophthalmologists registered with the Hyderabad Ophthalmologists Association and all of them have been seeing at least one patient every day.
Earlier the problem was limited to the age group of 50 to 60 years. Women going through menopause came in with dry eyes as their estrogen levels fell. Those who had chronic illnesses suffered from it.
Pharmacist Sai Kiran said, “These lubricants are required to relax and also allow the tear film to function according to its normal level. But it is not the final solution to the problem of computer vision syndrome.”
Ophthalmologists sugest following the 20-20 rule. Senior ophthalmologist Dr Manoj Chandra Mathur said, “Every 20 minutes, gaze away from the computer screen for 20 seconds.”
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