Too much time staring at mobile phones is putting children at risk of blindness, top eye surgeons warn

Top eye surgeons are warning that a growing number of children are at risk of going blind because of too much time staring at mobile phones and too little time outside.

British children as young as four are using special contact lenses to tackle the growing problem with doctors increasingly seeing teenagers with the worst possible nearsightedness scores.

It is believed that the worrying increase is a result of children straining to look at mobile phones up close, while not spending enough time focusing at longer distances outside in daylight.

Dr. John Bolger, a consultant ophthalmologist and director of a private eye clinic in north London, says he is deeply concerned about the rise in children developing short-sightedness, known as myopia, describing it as a ‘pandemic’.

He told the Mail on Sunday: ‘More and more myopic children are coming into the clinic. It goes up and up. There is no slowing down from what I can see.

‘Myopia is not just about having to wear glasses, people can become blind from myopia. This is not a trivial event, it is a serious threat.’

The surgeon explained that prolonged periods of looking at screens can lead to elongation of the eyeball – and that the effects of the Covid pandemic have exacerbated ‘a pandemic of myopia’.

Not spending enough time outside also hinders a child’s exposure to natural light, which is essential for regulating the growth of the eyeball and reducing the risk of nearsightedness.

He said: ‘We’ve had children say four or five days went by during lockdown when they didn’t step outside the front door and I’m quite sure there are a lot of them who wouldn’t be myopic not been to lockdown.

‘We have children as young as four or five years old who use contact lenses and children with up to -20 on prescription, and this presents very big challenges for how they live their lives. It is not easy. It’s a disability, there’s no other way to put it.’

Dr. Bolger said some of his young patients sleep with special contact lenses that change the shape of the cornea. It slows down the development of myopia and allows them to see normally when they wake up.

Last week, Prince William urged people to spend less time on their phones, saying “we need to be better at it” while visiting the opening of a new youth club in White City, London.

He said “the adults are guilty of it too” when one youngster confessed to scrolling too long.

Research shows that nearsightedness has doubled over the last 50 years in the UK and that children are becoming nearsighted at younger ages, with over a quarter of 15 to 16-year-olds now having nearsightedness.

Dr. Irfan Jeeva, a consultant ophthalmologist at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, says that in recent years he has seen an increasing number of children need glasses to correct their nearsightedness.

He told the Mail on Sunday: ‘It’s definitely because of too much screen time. Children strain their eyes to read up close and spend very little time outside now. I have young patients with such severe myopia that it makes their lives very difficult.

‘The only places in the world where myopia is not increasing are in the agricultural communities where children spend all day outside and adjust their focus far away and near constantly.

‘Parents need to strike the right balance and ensure that their children use screens for entertainment as little as possible and get as much daylight outdoors as they can.’