[헬스S] Turn off lights and lie down on your smartphone, increasing your risk of glaucoma

Smartphones are essential for modern people. In everyday life, of course, I often hold it in my hand before going to sleep. However, it is necessary to be careful because behavior such as looking at a smartphone in bed with the lights off can adversely affect eye health, such as increasing the risk of glaucoma.

Glaucoma, one of the three major blindness diseases selected by the World Health Organization, is a disease in which the optic nerve, which transmits light received by the eye to the brain, becomes abnormal and the field of view becomes narrower.

According to the National Health Insurance Corporation, from 2016 to 2020, the number of glaucoma patients in Korea increased by an average of 4.5% per year. In 2020, the number of glaucoma patients was 96,4812, an increase of 156,800 (19.4%) from 808,012 in 2016. Patients in their 60s accounted for 25% of the total age group, accounting for the largest number of patients.

Among glaucoma, primary open-angle glaucoma, in which the field of view gradually narrows as damage to the optic nerve progresses, is the most common. Since the field of vision is narrowed without pain, early detection is difficult. On the other hand, acute angle-closure glaucoma is a disease in which the intraocular pressure rises rapidly as the anterior chamber angle, which is the passageway for aqueous humor, narrows or becomes obstructed.

It is known that lying face down in a dark place and using a smartphone for a long time increases the risk of angle-closure glaucoma.

During short-distance activities, such as using a smartphone, our eyes thicken the lens to focus. At this time, if you take a prone position, the thickened lens will lean forward and the pupil will remain medium-sized, which may cause a pupil-blocking situation. Pupil blockage blocks the smooth circulation of aqueous humor in the eye, and if this condition persists for a long time, the undischarged aqueous humor increases the intraocular pressure, leading to acute angle-closure glaucoma.

When angle-closure glaucoma occurs, the intraocular pressure rises rapidly and may be accompanied by symptoms such as headache, nausea, and vomiting, the eyes may be severely congested, and symptoms of decreased visual acuity may appear due to corneal edema. In this case, if you receive intensive treatment to lower the intraocular pressure, your eyesight can be restored, but if you miss the treatment time, there is a risk of blindness, so prompt treatment is very important when symptoms occur.

In addition to increasing the risk of glaucoma, smartphone use in dark spaces can adversely affect eye health, such as dry eye syndrome, double vision, and night myopia. Therefore, it is good to develop the habit of using a smartphone properly on a regular basis.

When using a smartphone, the surroundings should be bright, and it is better to sit upright or lie down with the ceiling in view rather than lying face down. Avoid looking at your smartphone for more than 20 minutes in a dark place, and if you have abnormal symptoms such as headaches and eye pain as your eyes become red and dim, you should see an ophthalmologist for treatment.