Be careful! Don't play with your phone like this, the consequences are quite serious!

Expert of this article: Xu Qibin, associate chief physician, deputy director of ophthalmology department, Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine

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.

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

What is glaucoma?

Glaucoma is a chronic, progressive eye disease characterized by pathological increase in intraocular pressure (normal intraocular pressure is 10-21 mmHg), which causes visual field loss, optic disc depression, and optic nerve atrophy.

Glaucoma, cataracts and age-related macular degeneration are the three major blinding eye diseases.

There are many types of glaucoma, the most common ones can be divided into primary angle-closure glaucoma, primary open-angle glaucoma, secondary glaucoma, congenital glaucoma, etc.

The onset of glaucoma is often insidious, with progressive narrowing of the visual field and atrophy of the optic nerve leading to blindness. (With intermittent and continuous increases in intraocular pressure, visual field damage, tubular vision, and finally blindness gradually occur.)

The majority of glaucoma patients are women, with the male to female ratio reaching 1:4. The blindness rate caused by glaucoma is 10%, which is a relatively high rate.

During an acute attack of glaucoma, intraocular pressure may increase sharply, and the patient may experience symptoms such as eye pain, eye swelling, red eyes, decreased vision, headache, nausea and vomiting, and halo vision.

Will turning off the lights and playing with your phone cause glaucoma?

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

However, turning off the lights and playing with mobile phones is not the cause of glaucoma, it is just a predisposing factor for glaucoma.

When the lights are turned off, the pupil dilates, which may cause aqueous humor circulation disorders in the anterior and posterior chambers of the eye to a certain extent, causing intraocular pressure fluctuations or even increases. If the patient suffers from anterior segment anatomical abnormalities (shallow anterior chamber, narrow chamber angle), it will cause pupillary block and induce an acute attack of glaucoma.

Can you go blind if you have glaucoma?

If the intraocular pressure of glaucoma is not properly controlled, it will gradually cause optic nerve atrophy, leading to visual field loss and even blindness within a few years.

Glaucoma requires long-term follow-up. Once you have glaucoma, you need to visit an ophthalmologist regularly for symptomatic treatment based on the type, symptoms, intraocular pressure, and visual field of the glaucoma.

Currently, the treatment of glaucoma is mainly divided into drugs and surgery:

Drugs include eye drops that lower intraocular pressure and oral or systemic intravenous drugs, which can be used alone or in combination with multiple drugs;

Surgeries include laser, trabeculectomy, drainage valve implantation, etc.

How to prevent glaucoma?

Glaucoma is a "thief" of vision, so it is extremely important to prevent glaucoma:

1. People with a family history of glaucoma need regular ophthalmological examinations including intraocular pressure, slit lamp examinations, and visual field examinations, as well as regular follow-up.

2. People over 40 years old, patients with severe myopia, hyperopia and diabetes need regular ophthalmological follow-up and blood sugar control.

3. Keep your emotions stable, be less angry and less upset, especially female patients, should maintain a good mood.

4. Try to avoid working and studying in dim lighting environments.

5. If the elderly have obvious cataracts, they should undergo cataract surgery as soon as possible according to the doctor's advice to avoid the onset of secondary glaucoma.

6. Do not use hormone drugs frequently, especially hormone eye drops, as long-term use will cause hormonal glaucoma.

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