High use of digital devices increases dry eyes problem

The use of smartphones and digital devices in our daily life has increased significantly making life easier for us, while the high dependency on digital devices is drying up our tears literally. The health risk to eyes associated with such devices is called Digital Vision Strain causing Dry Eyes.

According to research conducted by VSERV, on an average a person spends 169 minutes daily on mobile phones, in 2013, the number of smartphone users in India was 74 million. This has more than doubled in 2016 to 204 million users.

Prolonged exposure to these devices is now associated with rising number of digital vision strain syndrome causing dry eyes disorder and health risk. Dry eye is a condition where a person does not have enough tears to lubricate the eye. Tears are necessary to maintain the front surface of the eye and clear our vision. Tears also reduce the risk of infection and remove impurities from our eyes.

A normal person blinks about 16 times a minute. In front of the mobile screen we tend to stare continuously and the blink rate drops to as low as 6 times per minute. This allows more time for tear evaporation and results in dryness of eyes. Proper rest to the eye & its muscles is recommended to relieve the associated eye strain.

A routinely recommended approach is to consciously blink the eyes every now and then (this helps replenish the tear film), and look out of the window into a distance object or the sky - (this provides rest to the ciliary muscles). Earlier, Dry Eyes condition was associated with age and identified as a side-effect of menopause in women. But, today an increasing number of young people are suffering from it.

The high exposure to digital devices and smartphones has given rise to Digital Vision Strain syndrome thereby increasing the number of dry eyes incidences in India. Some of the symptoms of dry eyes include eye discomfort, eye strain, redness, blurry vision among others.

According to IMS Health in 2013, the number of new prescriptions for dry eyes treatment were 1.4 crores. By 2016, the new prescriptions generated for treating dry eyes has increased to 2.4 crores. In fact, over the last one year itself, the number of new prescriptions for treating dry eyes has growth by 28 per cent.

While most people rely on home remedies to ease the pain caused by dry eyes, it is recommended to get it checked by Ophthalmologists. Dry eyes as a condition cannot be cured but there are various medicines which can help in relieving the symptoms.

One of the significant challenges in treating the dry eye condition is the lack of awareness. While most people in Tier I cities tend to seek help, there is a huge awareness gap for people residing in Tier II and lower towns. With the number of incidences reported is on the rise, the severity of this situation can be gauged from IMS Health estimates of new prescriptions for dry eye treatments.

According to IMS data, in 2013, the number of new prescriptions for dry eyes was 1.46 crore, which nearly doubled in the next three years to 2.48 crore new prescriptions in 2016. Timely medical intervention and diagnosis can help go a long way in reducing the strain of this disease. The writer is a Chief Corneal and Refractive Surgeon, Swarup Eye Centre, Hyderabad.

By Rishi Swarup