Stop playing with your phone like this! Doctor: Once you get it, it's irreversible

Recently, related topics

“Don’t turn off the lights and play with your phone anymore”

Rushed to the top of Weibo trending search

Medical experts said

Often turn off the lights to play with mobile phone

Or induce glaucoma, or even blindness

The above topic has attracted heated discussions among many netizens.

Some netizens even joked

"I was playing with my phone with the lights off and saw this trending search"

Some netizens also commented that

“The whole family will turn off the lights and play with their phones”

"Nowadays, many people have regarded 'scrubbing mobile phones' as a hypnotic tool." Ge Ling, chief ophthalmologist and doctor of ophthalmology at Shanghai Eye Disease Prevention and Treatment Center and Shanghai Eye Hospital, said that in fact, turning off the lights to look at mobile phones is a very dangerous "killer" of eyesight. Playing with mobile phones in the dark after turning off the lights may indeed cause glaucoma.

Ge Ling explained that the occurrence and development of glaucoma is closely related to intraocular pressure exceeding the normal range. "In simple terms, our eyes have a liquid called aqueous humor that flows inside the eyeball and exerts a certain pressure on the retina. This pressure is the intraocular pressure. If the intraocular pressure increases due to various reasons, it will cause the optic nerve on the retina to atrophy. After the optic nerve atrophies, the patient's visual range will gradually shrink, which is equivalent to seeing the world through a hollow tube. And as the disease progresses, this range will become smaller and smaller until the patient is completely blind."

Ouyang Zhikun, chief ophthalmologist at Shanghai Eye Disease Prevention and Treatment Center and Shanghai Eye Hospital, said that in the outpatient clinic, she rarely encountered cases of healthy people developing glaucoma due to turning off the lights and playing with their phones, but there are indeed some susceptible people who may experience glaucoma attacks. "I once met a woman in her 50s who watched TV series on her phone at night for several days in a row, which eventually led to an attack of glaucoma. However, this patient mainly had a narrow anterior chamber angle, which was a possible congenital inheritance, and a narrow anterior chamber angle is a susceptible group for glaucoma." Ouyang Zhikun mentioned that among the ophthalmology patients who come to the hospital for treatment, especially young people, it is easy to cause dry eyes due to turning off the lights and watching mobile phones, but most of the conditions are not too serious and can be restored to normal with symptomatic treatment, so don't be too nervous.

Which type of people turn off the lights and play with their phones

More likely to induce glaucoma?

The doctor said

If the patient is susceptible to glaucoma

For example, advanced age, farsightedness

Family history of glaucoma

Turning off the lights and playing with your phone may cause glaucoma

Causes a sharp increase in intraocular pressure

Because the pupil is in a dilated state in the dark to increase the amount of light entering the eye, the iris is squeezed and the light accumulates at the outlet of the aqueous humor. As a result, the outflow of aqueous humor is more or less obstructed, causing the angle of the chamber to close, which in turn leads to increased intraocular pressure, and finally triggers an attack of glaucoma.

Doctors point out that playing with mobile phones can also cause constant spasms of the ciliary muscles, which in turn cause the anterior chamber to become shallower, the chamber angle to become narrower, and pupillary block to occur. In this case, an acute attack of glaucoma is likely to occur. Patients will experience symptoms such as sore and painful eyes, or even headaches, bloodshot and red eyes, and a significant decrease in vision . Patients with acute attacks of glaucoma need treatment as soon as possible to save their vision.

Doctor's reminder

Even if you are not susceptible to glaucoma

Turning off the lights and looking at your phone is also a bad habit

In case of pupil dilation

Too much light

There is also a potential risk of retinal damage

Can easily lead to eye fatigue, dry eyes, etc.

Many adverse consequences

Impact on eye health and quality of life

Glaucoma is the world's leading irreversible blinding eye disease and is known as the "vision killer". If it is not discovered in time and the treatment opportunity is missed or the treatment is irregular, it is very likely to lead to blindness. At the same time, glaucoma is hereditary to a certain extent. Although the children of glaucoma patients may not necessarily suffer from glaucoma, they are more likely to suffer from glaucoma than normal people. Therefore, people over 40 years old with a family history of glaucoma should have regular eye examinations.