Stop playing with your phone before going to bed, or you might actually go blind...

Every night before going to bed, I turn off the lights, tuck in the quilt, and pick up my phone. This is my "bedtime ritual".

Many people like to check their phones before going to bed. The dim environment makes people feel drowsy. But what they don’t know is that this habit is actually very harmful.

Will turning off the lights and looking at your phone cause glaucoma? Will glaucoma eventually lead to blindness? Here's some scientific information.

World Glaucoma Week (March 10th - March 16th) is coming, and this year's theme is "Jointly manage chronic glaucoma and keep the light forever."

As the world's leading irreversible blinding eye disease, glaucoma is hidden in its onset and difficult to detect in the early stages, earning it the nickname "the thief of light."

Glaucoma, like hypertension and diabetes, is a lifelong disease that usually develops gradually. It develops very slowly in the early stages and is easily overlooked. If it is not promptly controlled and treated, visual field loss and blindness will occur in the middle and late stages of the disease.

Will you really go blind if you turn off the lights and play with your phone?

There is a certain probability that playing with your mobile phone when turning off the lights may induce glaucoma.

However, playing with your phone after turning off the lights is not the cause of glaucoma, it is just a predisposing factor. When the lights are turned off, the pupil dilates, which to a certain extent causes the aqueous humor circulation disorder in the anterior and posterior chambers of the eye, causing intraocular pressure fluctuations or even increases. For example, if you encounter a patient with an abnormal anterior segment anatomy (shallow anterior chamber, narrow angle), it will cause pupillary block and induce an acute attack of glaucoma.

How does eye "pressure" increase?

Intraocular pressure is mainly caused by a fluid called "aqueous humor", and the normal range is 10 to 21 mmHg.

The inside of the eyeball is a liquid environment. The ciliary body is like a faucet, producing aqueous humor. At the same time, there are "pipes" in the eye to discharge aqueous humor. When the production and excretion of aqueous humor are in dynamic balance, the intraocular pressure is normal and the eyeball is healthy. However, for various reasons, the "drainage outlet" and "inside of the water pipe" of glaucoma patients are easily blocked, resulting in obstruction of aqueous humor drainage. New aqueous humor is continuously generated, and more and more water accumulates in the eye, causing increased intraocular pressure.

As intraocular pressure rises, the "optic nerve" at the fundus is under increasing pressure, which will not only cause systemic symptoms such as headaches and nausea, but may also cause a narrowing and defect of the visual field, and optic nerve atrophy. If not treated in time, it will eventually lead to blindness.

The intraocular pressure is high and the symptoms are frequent.

The main symptom of glaucoma is increased intraocular pressure. According to the cause, it can be divided into three categories: primary glaucoma, secondary glaucoma, and congenital glaucoma. Among them, primary glaucoma is divided into open-angle glaucoma and closed-angle glaucoma. Open-angle glaucoma develops slowly, has no obvious symptoms, and is easily ignored, so it is necessary to be highly vigilant. Closed-angle glaucoma may have an acute attack, which may cause complete blindness within 24-48 hours. Every second counts to save vision.

Who are the high-risk groups?

Glaucoma can steal vision silently and is irreversible. Some susceptible groups need to have regular checkups to prevent it. High-risk groups include:

1. People who like to turn off the lights to watch TV or play with their mobile phones;

2. Those with high myopia of more than 600 degrees or high hyperopia;

3. People with a family history of glaucoma, hypertension, diabetes, and immune system diseases;

4. People aged ＞40 years old, with high intraocular pressure found during physical examination.

Some people think that glaucoma is a disease exclusive to the elderly, but this is not the case.

For young people, if visual fatigue is significantly worse than before, or more severe and frequent than their peers, they should pay attention and go to the eye department for a check-up. Myopic patients should also be alert to glaucoma if they have long-term visual fatigue, eye swelling, eye pain, and obvious vision loss, and their vision cannot reach 1.0 when they have eye examinations and glasses.

How to prevent and treat glaucoma?

Glaucoma can’t cause blindness in the late stage, so early intervention and prevention are very important. The key to its treatment lies in the “three earlys”: early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment.

Glaucoma treatment is to protect the optic nerve visual function by controlling intraocular pressure. There are three main treatment methods: drugs, laser, and surgery. Patients should also develop good living habits, avoid emotional excitement, poor sleep, smoking, drinking and other factors that may induce glaucoma, keep a happy mood, bright light, ensure adequate rest and proper exercise, pay attention to a light diet, and have regular eye examinations at specialized hospitals.

In short, don't take chances. If you often feel eye pain, redness, or even vision loss, you should go to an ophthalmologist for an intraocular pressure and fundus examination in time.