Intensive smartphone use will cause an appreciable increase in nearsightedness, which is already a growing problem because we so rarely use our eyes to look at the far distance, experts are predicting.
Wolfgang Wesemann, director of the Cologne School of Optometry, said the proportion of people in large Asian cities with nearsightedness, or myopia, had increased from 20 to 80% in just a few years. This rapid development can only be due to societal changes, he said.
“It definitely can’t be a genetic development, but rather a result of altered living conditions,” he remarked, adding that the urban Asian way of life with too much artificial light and too little natural light also played an important role.
To counter this in China, he said, schools are being built with glass roofs to let in more sunlight.
At present, about 40% of Germany’s inhabitants are nearsighted.
“That number will certainly rise, however,” he said in Munich at the recent International Trade Show for Optics & Design. The proportion of nearsighted 20- to 29-year-olds is already growing.
“It used to be that you became nearsighted during your school years, and there was no worsening afterwards,” he said. No more.
In view of this, Wesemann said, not only should an eye examination be mandatory for a driving test, but “a subsequent examination would be a good idea too.”
Experts who attended the German Ophthalmology Society Congress in Berlin last October also warned of an increase in nearsightedness.
A common vision condition in which nearby objects are seen clearly but objects farther away are blurry, nearsightedness occurs if the eyeball grows to be too long or the cornea too curved - usually between the ages of 6 and 18, when many young people are virtually glued to their electronic devices.
Severe nearsightedness is considered to be a slight risk factor for retinal detachment, glaucoma and cataracts.