Opthalmologists flag ‘Quarantine Myopia’ among children

Increased digital screen time cited as risk factor

It has been almost a year and a half that children have been at home, and the idea of education or entertainment is centered around digital screens. This means they are spending more time staring into mobile phones. Citing this unprecedented situation, ophthalmologists say they are seeing an increase in cases of Myopia (near sightedness) among children under 15 years since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The specialist doctors from Dr Agarwals Eye Hospital say more cases of ‘squint-eye’ is also being observed in children. “Our figures show that there is a 100% increase in annual myopia progression and a five-fold increase in annual squint-eye cases among children of 5-15 years during the pandemic year,” says Palak Macwana, consultant ophthalmologist at the private hospital. Dr. Macwana adds that during the lockdown period, getting work done involved computers, laptops, and mobile phones or tablets, which was taken up without frequent breaks. Screen time for academic or other purposes increased substantially. This visual stress could be a cause for squinting and has an accelerating effect on myopia progression.