You’ll Restrict Your Smartphone Use If You’d Know How This Hyderabad Woman Lost Her Vision

Hyderabad: Our generation is totally under the influence of technology. No one is spared. And mobile phones and computer systems (laptops, pads etc) are integral parts of everyone’s daily routine. Though it makes our work-life easier, we barely think of its negative consequences. Meanwhile, a series of tweets from a Hyderabad-based doctor’s handle has made everyone raise their eyebrows.  A woman became blind for over a year because of her smartphone viewing. It is an eye-opener for everyone in this digital era when we cannot live without a smartphone.

Taking to the microblogging platform, Dr Sudhir explained how a young woman’s vision was seriously damaged due to the overuse of her Mobile phone.

According to Dr Sudhir, Manju, a 30-year-old woman was diagnosed with blindness after spending a lot of time on her phone in the dark. She lost her vision for around one and a half years.

Her vision got distorted and she stated seeing floaters, intense flashes of light, dark zigzag patterns, and occasionally a lack of vision or concentration on objects.

“There were moments when she could not see anything for several seconds.” This occurred mostly at night when she got up to use the restroom. She was evaluated by an eye specialist, and a detailed evaluation was found to be normal. She was referred to rule out neurological causes. I reviewed the history. Symptoms began after she quit her job as a beautician to care for her special needs child. She picked up a new habit of browsing through her smartphone for several hours daily, including two hours at night with the lights switched off,” he wrote.

She was suffering from smartphone vision syndrome (SVS). Long-term use of devices such as computers, smartphones, or tablets can cause various eye-related disabling symptoms, referred to as “computer vision syndrome” (CVS) or “digital vision syndrome.”

“I did not order any investigations, nor did I prescribe any medicines (even though Manju requested them as she was anxious). “I counselled her about the possible cause for her vision impairment and suggested she minimise the use of her smartphone,” he said.

Manju was anxious because she feared something sinister with her brain nerves but was finally determined to take corrective action. She said, “Instead of minimizing, I will stop looking at my smartphone screen, unless absolutely necessary.” “In any case, my phone use is recreational.”

At her 1-month review, Manju was absolutely fine. Her vision impairment of 18 months has subsided. Now she has normal eyesight, she is not seeing any floaters or flashes of light.

At the end of the Twitter thread, Dr Sudhir left a message to the smartphone users: “Avoid looking at screens of digital devices for long, as it can cause severe and disabling vision-related problems.”