To save your eyesight, step away from the screen
INCREASED screen time due to lockdowns can strain our eyesight, prompting eye doctors to recommend frequent breaks, and limit time spent on our devices.
“We can’t tell individuals to stop working, so what we do is advise them on how to decrease straining their eyes from too much work,” said Dr. Jeffrey Naz B. Racoma, an ophthalmologist at Makati Medical Center, in a Facebook Messenger interview with BusinessWorld.
Citing the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), Dr. Racoma recommended getting refracted, using artificial tears to refresh dry eyes, following the 20-20-20 rule (for every 20 minutes of computer use, stop a while and look at an object 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds), adjusting the screen’s brightness and contrast to match ambient light, and sitting about an arm’s length in front of the screen.
Blue light exposure from digital devices, meanwhile, shouldn’t be a cause for concern since there is no scientific evidence that blue light from digital devices causes damage to your eye, according to AAO.
The Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology (PAO), for its part, does not prescribe blue light–filtering glasses, as there is still no significant evidence that blue-light filters protect a computer user’s eyes. “To some, they supposedly work; that is anecdotal evidence, though,” Dr. Racoma said, adding that the PAO recommends adjusting screen brightness and enlarging font size instead of spending on paraphernalia that may not help at all.
The discomfort people experience after prolonged computer time is most likely eye strain, which leads to headaches, according to AAO. Both eye strain and dry eyes are the most common symptoms of computer vision syndrome (CVS), which describes eye- and vision-related problems that result from prolonged computer, tablet, and mobile phone use. Other symptoms associated with CVS are headaches, blurred vision, and neck and shoulder pain.
Treatment for dry eyes include using artificial tears, blinking from time to time, curbing screen time, and taking a break doing activities in which the eyes don’t have to focus on something up close. Updating one’s eyeglass prescriptions also helps, Dr. Racoma said, as the proper glasses can reduce eyes strain.
“There is this myth that once you use glasses and your eyes get used to wearing them, then it’s your fault kasi sinanay mo na mata mo [because you accustomed your eyes to wearing them],” he said. “Actually, it’s more you realizing that, wow, glasses actually help me see better. It decreases my eye strain, so I will now continue to use them because they benefit me.”
GO OUTSIDE
A report by Feel Good Contacts, a contact lens retailer, compared vision impairment data from a 2020 Lancet Global Health study against average time spent online as reported by DataReportal in 2021.
The Philippines ranked seventh, with Filipinos clocking in close to 11 hours of internet time and 14.3% of the population suffering from some form of vision loss. India topped the list, with Indians spending around 6.5 hours online and 22.7% of the population suffering from some form of vision loss. China was an outlier, the UK-based retailer added, as the country averaged around 5.5 hours online yet registered high rates of vision loss. “This suggests that while screen time has a tangible impact on our eyesight, it is only one of many factors that can damage our vision,” said Feel Good Contacts.
Commenting on the study, Dr. Racoma said: “I’m skeptical with their methodology. They just compared how much a country used computers, and correlated it with vision loss or impairment, for any disease, regarding if it’s not connected to using computers or not. Too many confounders and variables for that to be a reliable study.”
He added that no study has directly correlated computer use to eye disease. “If there were, there’d be a lot of lawsuits already if that were the case,” said Dr. Racoma.
Meanwhile, a separate journal article suggested that children are more susceptible to vision problems owing to a rise in screen time. A January 14 study in JAMA Ophthalmology found the rate of myopia, or near-sightedness, among 6- to 8-year-old children was 1.4 to 3 times higher in 2020 compared with the previous five years. The study noted that the refractive status of younger children “may be more sensitive to environmental changes than older children, given the younger individuals are in an important period for the development of myopia.”
This ties in with an earlier March 2020 study in Preventive Medicine that found increased computer use was associated with myopia development before the age of 10 years. Computer use, however, was not as strongly associated with myopia as reading books. The study also noted that “the effect of combined near work activities could be diminished by outdoor exposure.”
Dr. Racoma noted that doing a lot of near work may have an effect of myopia. “We read books usually less than an arm’s length away, usually 8-12 inches away. Computers, though, are usually 18-24 inches away, so your eyes are less converged (or looking inward). When you look near, there’s something called the near response. The closer the reading material, the more engaged the near response.”
The remedy, he said, is not to stop reading books, but to follow the 20-20-20 rule.
“The rule reminds you to look far often, because when you do, you don’t use the near response…That’s why it’s very relaxing to look at clouds and rainbows, because that’s a relaxed position.”
As the 2020 study concluded, outdoor exposure is also important. “Spending time outdoors allows the hormone dopamine to regulate a child’s growth and development,” Dr. Racoma told BusinessWorld. “Spending less time outdoors is one known risk factor that has been shown [to lead to] an increased incidence of myopia in children.”
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness reported that in 2020, there were an estimated 12 million people with vision loss in the Philippines. Of these, 500,000 people were blind. — Patricia B. Mirasol
