Bhubaneswar: A study on progression of myopia (short-sightedness) among 5 to 15-year-old children claimed that the ailment saw a two-fold rise in the last two years.
The analysis conducted by a private eye hospital attributed the spurt in such cases (myopia and squint eyes) to increased screen exposure during Covid-induced lockdowns and shutdowns.
“In the last two years, the number of myopia cases in this particular age group saw 100 per cent rise, while the cases of squint eyes also witnessed a five-fold increase,” said Chandra Shekhar Sahoo, consultant ophthalmologist from Dr Agrawals Eye Hospital, Bhubaneswar which studied the paediatric patient database of all its branches.
According to Sahoo, “There is an escalation of cases of kids coming with progression of myopia, onset of myopia and other eye ailments. This comes when schools remained suspended and kids stayed indoors for a longer time due to the lockdowns and shutdowns while online classes also came to the play. All such factors contributed to the paediatric population becoming the new set of digital device consumers.
Experts claimed that Covid and lockdowns really took a toll on the eye health of people across age brackets. Kids and youths were hit hard primarily due to increased screen time. Inflow of patients with problems like fluctuations in eye power, progression of eyes and dryness of eyes has increased manifold, they maintained.
Cuttack-based ophthalmologist Anurag Mishra also said that there has been an increase in cases of eye disorders in kids and youths during the last two years.
“Dry eyes is now the most common issue which is often triggered by increased screen time. For, increased screen time reduces the potential of eyes from natural blinking which reduces the chances of eye secretion and thus prevents normal lubrication of eyes,” he said.
Doctors at LV Prasad Eye Institute, Bhubaneswar also told this reporter that eye disorders among kids and youths have become an emerging issue after the outbreak of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, experts suggested safe practices of using digital devices like maintaining safe distance from computer, laptop and television sets unlike close devices like mobiles. Further, healthy lifestyle, exercise, balanced diet, exposure to sunlight could arrest development of eye disorders.