Digital Eye Syndrome – Covid 19 Lockdown Side Effect?

Abstract

Digital eye syndrome: COVID-19 lockdown side-effect? To the Editor: The coronavirus COVID-19 has sent humanity in doors, replacing human contact with an electronic connection. The increased use of electronic devices (e-devices) and its influence on the wellbeing of users is a concern to healthcare practitioners. Digital eye syndrome (DES) is one of these health concerns. Internal DES essentially affects the user's visual system of accommodation, convergence and refraction. Users of electronic devices will complain of blurred distance and/or near vision, difficulty re-focusing and headaches. [1] DES is caused by small font size, reduced reading distance, light emission of self-illuminating screens, and time-based exposure. [2] Moreover, the cognitive demand of reading material affects DES severity. [3] Digital blue light has a role in internal DES, and it influences circadian rhythms and sleep. The screens of modern e-devices do have built-in protective mechanisms to shield/guard us, but it is the duration of use that contributes to symptoms of DES. The other concern is digital blue light suppressing the sleep hormone, melatonin, because its wavelength stimulates the retinal photoreceptors to suppress production of melatonin from the pineal gland, thus delaying the latency of sleep onset as well as affecting the quality of sleep. [3] External DES manifests with users complaining of tired red eyes, sensitivity to light and general ocular discomfort from extended screen time. These symptoms are attributable to drying of the anterior surface of the eye, especially the cornea, due to a reduced blink rate. It is exacerbated by incomplete blinking, i.e. poor blink quality with screen time, and even air conditioning drying the eye. [1-3] Users also often complain of neck, back and shoulder pain. Prolonged sitting with poor posture and lack of movement during screen time contribute to these impairments. Users should be advised to adopt a correct posture and sit upright with the back supported, both feet supported on a surface in front, and arms, forearms and wrist (neutral) all aligned with the device at eye level or just below. Furthermore, users should change their position frequently. This open-access article is distributed under Creative Commons licence CC-BY-NC 4.0.

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