- During the pandemic and due to the confinement, the levels of childhood myopia increased throughout the planet.
- Pediatricians say that children under the age of four should never use electronic devices because of the impact on their vision.
- Infants should be exposed to natural light for at least two hours a day.
Technology is an important ally in the lives of millions of people. One of its main objectives is to make life easier for individuals. Although it does comply, there are also some negative aspects that are directly related to the use and abuse of electronic devices. Due to their characteristics they have caused a increase in cases of childhood myopia worldwide.
A side effect of the pandemic
The lack of exposure to natural light, caused by the use of electronic devices, which increased during the months of confinement due to the health emergency, exacerbated the incidence of refractive errors in their vision in childhood, emphasized the academic and pediatric ophthalmologist from UNAM, Jessica Vargas Ortega.
Natural lighting plays an important role in the growth of a child’s eye structures until it reaches the size of an adult. These modifications that occur within the eyeball are called emmetropization.
When infants do not receive it sufficiently, the emmetropization process does not occur naturally. So there are compensatory mechanisms and one of these is myopia.
Some social conditions and of course the use of technology cause girls and boys in cities not to play in public spaces and remain locked up. These factors also influence the presence of myopia.
According to the specialist, regardless of their age, they have to be exposed to natural light for at least two hours a day.
Regarding the use of electronic devices and devices, the Mexican Academy of Pediatric Ophthalmology determined that children under four years of age should not be in front of these items; “Thinking about it for a baby is impossible.”
From the age of five or six is when they can have contact with these objects because it is also the age in which they go to school. From six years onwards, one or two hours, maximum, throughout the day; and four to five hours per day, starting at 15.
This is due to the fact that with the devices of the so-called blue light, flickering decreases significantly. A phenomenon that somehow protects the surface of the eyeball because when it is executed it is lubricated. That is to say, being in front of the screens stops blinking unconsciously and this causes the tear not to be able to do its job, it breaks and, as a consequence, the person’s eyes burn.
Rising
The ophthalmologist surgeon also considered it necessary to prevent the childhood myopia epidemicwhich manifests strongly, as it can otherwise scale to larger numbers.
“Although in Mexico we lack epidemiological studies and documented information (figures) on what happens with our children, I can verify that myopia is increasingly diagnosed at earlier ages, in contrast to hyperopia and astigmatism that have not changed in incidence ”.
In addition to the fact that the person requires glasses due to myopia, this condition generates important consequences that affect the patient’s health throughout life: alterations in other structures of the eye, with risk of retinal detachment, a particular type of glaucoma, in addition of the expenses that an unattended illness implies, even a degree of disability.
Jessica Vargas recalled that when using electronic devices the American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends the so-called 20-20-20 Rule.
After the first 20 minutes that we spend in front of the screen, we must rest for the same amount of time. The second 20 (when another 20 minutes elapse) pause for 20 seconds. And the third 20 consists of looking far away, 20 feet (six meters), maybe nothing specific, it could be the sky, a cloud, a building.
This will allow us to rest the visual system in short periods and reduce the discomfort of chronic work during exposure to screens, emphasized the academic from the UNAM Graduate Studies Division.
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