Symptoms included seeing floaters, bright flashes of light, dark zig-zag lines.
Our everyday routines have a significant impact on our health. If a tiny addiction is not promptly overcome, it might have devastating effects on our physical health. Dr. Sudhir Kumar of Hyderabad recently shared a Twitter thread that may be a little frightening, but it is an eye opener for the general public in this digital era where technology has reached every nook and cranny of our environment.
In his Twitter thread, Dr. Sudhir detailed how a young woman's vision was seriously damaged as a result of routine behaviour.
Manju, 30, was diagnosed with blindness after spending a lot of time on her phone in the dark for around one and a half years, according to the doctor. The symptoms, according to the doctor, were 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.
The doctor went on to say that the diagnosis was now obvious. 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.
Dr Sudhir also talked about the mental state of the woman, saying that Manju became anxious fearing something sinister with her brain nerves but was 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'," as per the doctor's tweet.
He then said Manju appeared absolutely fine when he reviewed her after a month. Her vision impairment of 18 months was gone. Now that she had normal eyesight, she did not see any floaters or flashes of light. Moreover, her momentary loss of vision at night also stopped. Our suspicion was proved right.
At the end of the Twitter thread, he left a message to the daily smartphone users: "Avoid looking at screens of digital devices for long, as it can cause severe and disabling vision-related problems."
"Take a 20-second break every 20 minutes to look at something 20 feet away while using a digital screen (20-20-20 rule)," he added.