Does your vision ever seem messed up when you're playing on your phone in bed at night, or do you struggle to see your screen clearly when you're on your phone in bed first thing in the morning? As it turns out, it could be caused by the way you're looking at your phone when you're in the dark. Spending too much quality time staring at Facebook, Snapchat, or whatever else you use your smartphone for in bed could actually leave you temporarily blind in one eye, according to a new study.
The study, which was published by the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday, examined two women who were having vision problems. One of the women was 22 and had recurring impaired vision in her right eye over the course of several months, while the other woman was 40 and had been experiencing impaired vision in the morning for up to 15 minutes at a time. Both women tested negative for eye and heart diseases.
After giving detailed histories, it was determined that both women only experienced the symptoms after they had spent several minutes using their smartphones while lying down in the dark, according to the report. It was discovered that the women had vision troubles in the eye on the opposite side of the one they had been lying on while using their phones in bed (e.g. laying on the right side would lead to vision problems in the left eye).
The study found that, when lying down on one side and using a smartphone, one eye is likely to be covered by a pillow or blocked by the bed, which resulted in "the viewing eye becoming light-adapted while the eye blocked by the pillow was becoming dark-adapted. Subsequently, with both eyes uncovered in the dark, the light-adapted eye was perceived to be 'blind.'"
Because smartphones are used so frequently, the report's authors concluded that "presentations such as we describe are likely to become more frequent. Our cases show that detailed history taking and an understanding of retinal physiology can reassure both patient and doctor and can avoid unnecessary anxiety and costly investigations."
The study obviously consisted of a small sample size, so more research still needs to be done with regards to what is being called transient smartphone "blindness" in the future. But Dr. Wei Bi of City University London, one of the researchers involved with the study, told Complex people should be mindful of the way they use their smartphones, especially when it comes to using them in the dark.
"In today’s world, technology improves every day," Dr. Bi told us. "The smartphone, being the center product of technology development, has made our lives much easier and more comfortable. Our obsession with smartphones have become epic. Despite these advantages, spending too long on the smartphone could bring us many health problems. Results from our study suggest that inappropriate usage of smartphone can lead transient vision loss and perhaps may cause more negative effects in the long term."
