Smartphone vision syndrome: Woman suffers blindness after spending hours on the phone

A 30-year-old woman from Hyderabad suffered severe vision impairment for one-and-a-half years after spending long hours on her mobile phone in the dark.

The doctor she consulted shared her symptoms on social media, saying she was unable to see or focus on objects.

“Manju had severe disabling vision symptoms for one and half years. This included seeing floaters, bright flashes of light, dark zig-zag lines and at times inability to see or focus on objects,” Dr. Neurologist, Apollo Hospitals wrote in a series of tweets on Twitter.

Explaining the signs of her impending blindness, Dr. Kumar said that the woman identified as Manju was diagnosed with smartphone vision syndrome,

“I reviewed the history. Symptoms had started after she quit her job as a beautician to take care of her specially-abled child. She picked up a new habit of browsing through her smartphone for several hours daily, including >2 hours at night with the lights switched off,” he tweeted.

“The diagnosis was obvious now. 

She was suffering from smartphone vision syndrome or 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,” Dr. Kumar added.

Dr. Kumar said he did not ask the patient to undergo any further tests or prescribed medicines, despite her being anxious.

"I counseled her about the possible cause



for her vision impairment and suggested she minimize the use of a smartphone," the doctor said.

The woman then promised to restrict her time on the phone and use it only when necessary. Dr. Kumar said when Manju returned for the review after a month, she was absolutely fine.

“At one-month review, Manju was absolutely fine. Her vision impairment of 18 months had gone. Now, she had normal eyesight and did not see any floaters or flashes of light. Moreover, her momentary loss of vision at night also stopped,” he wrote.

The doctor also shared a few pointers on how to prevent smartphone vision syndrome

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 min, to look at something 20 feet away, while using a digital screen, also known as the 20-20-20 rule.

Make sure the room where you are working or looking at the computer or phone screen should be well lit.

Always go for regular check-ups and eye exams if you feel the slightest strain before the situation worsens.

Make sure to use high-resolution screens as when you cannot see the pixels, your eyes will not work as hard to make sense of the images in front of you.

Make sure to minimise the use of blue light by wearing specialist glasses or reducing the colour temperature of your screen.