Tsunami of myopia cases among children after schools reopen, say ophthalmologists
City ophthalmologists have said that after schools resumed physical classes, they have seen a surge in cases where parents realised that their children are unable to see the blackboard clearly.
Mumbai: Samyukta Pawar, a resident of Goregaon had to take her daughter to an ophthalmologist after the school told her that the six-year-old could not see the blackboard clearly. The class 2 student was diagnosed with myopia -- a condition in which a person has difficulty seeing distant objects.
City ophthalmologists have said that after schools resumed physical classes, they have seen a surge in cases where parents realised that their children are unable to see the blackboard clearly.
Dr Sneha Kankaria, ophthalmologist, Dr Agarwal Eye Hospital Goregaon, said she sees 2-3 children daily who complain of blurred vision when seated on the last bench.
“During the pandemic, most children’s activities and studies were restricted to cell phone, computer and laptop screens (short distance). Parents did not realise that the children aren’t able to see things at distance clearly. It is only when they go back to school that these problems are getting noticed,” she said.
Dr Ashwin Sainani, paediatric ophthalmologist, PD Hinduja Hospital - Mahim, who is seeing children with myopia as young as kindergarten, said the surge in myopia cases is coming to the fore now because of schools re-starting.
“Now that the schools have re-opened physically, parents are getting notes from schools saying their children can not see. Parents tell us the problem happened yesterday but they know the problem now because the child went to school yesterday,” said Dr Sainani.
Dr Nikhil Sardar, senior consultant, ophthalmology, Nanavati Max Super Speciality Hospital - Vile Parle, said since the restarting of schools, their outdoor patient department has witnessed a nearly 30%-40% increase in children complaining of myopia, near-sightedness and a condition that has become rather common in recent times -- Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).
“The anatomy of our eyes is such that it prevents us from performing minute, detailed tasks such as squinting into a screen, stretching over 40-50 minutes. But during the pandemic children stopped going out and spent hours on mobile, tablet or computer screens in addition to the virtual study period. This resulted in over-exertion of the eyes and accommodative stress or in simpler terms, focusing fatigue,” he said.
Dr Sardar added that CVS causes dryness of the eyes due to continuously staring at the screen and leads to a reduced blink rate.
“The children may face premature retinal degeneration (blurred or no vision in the centre of the visual field), 20-30 years in future due to the continuous backlight exposure to their eyes,” he said.
Dr Ragini Parekh, president of Bombay Ophthalmologists Association and head of the department of ophthalmology at JJ Hospital said the trend of rising myopia cases has been there for a while and has become more with more use of gadgets.
“Our children are using gadgets more. That is one reason behind the rise in myopia cases and earlier, because of poor awareness, many cases went undetected. Parents are more aware now and get their child’s eye checked too if they see complaints are coming from the school regarding not being able to write from what is written on the board,” she said.
Explaining how the pandemic has led to the surge in myopia cases, Dr Sainani said, increased near viewing activities like online classes, book reading and curbs on outdoor activity were important factors behind the rise.
“Schooling was never a near viewing activity. It was always a distance viewing activity where you have to see across the classroom for the blackboard and the teacher. In the pandemic, schooling was online (near viewing activity) and so were extracurricular activities like dance classes, tabla classes etc.,” he said.
Dr Sainani added that by curbing outdoor activity, the risk factor to get myopia increased further. “The light we get from outdoors is 10,000 times more than indoor lighting. It has a protective effect and children’s eyes do not become myopic if they spend one and half hours outdoors before sunset every day. In the pandemic, this didn’t happen too,” he said.
Seeing the rise in myopia cases, ophthalmologists said there is a need to spread awareness among parents to reduce unnecessary near viewing. “Parents need to ensure there is minimal or no unnecessary near viewing in children detected with myopia. It may cause an increase in your spectacle power, increase the eye strain as well as dryness in the eyes,” said Dr Kankaria.
Dr Sainani said children should be allowed one and half hours of outdoor activity before sunset and taken to an ophthalmologist for a regular check-up.
