New Delhi: Eight-year-old Ritesh Walia peers through his spectacles at Hercules saving a lost princess, his latest video game. After five hours with Hercules, he switches to Angry Birds, and then to Pokemon. Ritesh is not alone in his addiction to video games. With increasing access to computers, smart phones, 3D television, ipads and numerous other gadgets, childhood myopia (near-sightedness) has become a huge risk for urban children, say experts.
Optometrists say playing video games for long hours can cause problems such as headaches, blurry vision and discomfort in the eyes. Children up to 15 years old are susceptible. "There has been a significant rise of youngsters with poor vision in the last two years. The number of patients has almost doubled, especially in the age group of four to 10," Tyag Murti Sharma, eye specialist, Medfort Hospitals, said.
"While digital eye strain is commonly regarded as an adult condition, children are suffering too. Several children spend over one-and-half hours at a stretch on SMS each day, it's no wonder they're straining their eyes. Squinting, rubbing of the eyes and complaints of back, neck or headache are all common among children addicted to gadgets," Anita Sethi, eye specialist, Nova Specialty Surgery, said.
Keeping children away from video games can be hard. If they cannot desist entirely, they should at least be taught the Harmon Distance rule. The distance between the eye and the screen should be at least as long as the length of the arm, from
02:01 PM, Oct 11, 2012
Hyderabad: Visual impairment in India has gone down by just 10 percent in the last six years and blindness has reduced by only 12 percent, according to a survey conducted by the World Health Organisation. More than 450 million in India require vision correction, of which 100 million do not have access to an eye examination nor can they afford a pair of spectacles. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has...
02:50 PM, Sep 18, 2012
Dehradun: A class 8 student lost his eyesight after he was allegedly thrashed by his teacher for not bringing a book to school. The incident occurred in Scholars' Home. The Principal has denied the allegations. A case has been filed against the school and the teacher. The victim, Mohit Arora, will undergo a surgery in Chandigarh in the next two days. The alleged incident happened last month, according to an...
08:42 AM, Feb 27, 2012
Dry Eye Syndrome is a lifestyle condition that can eventually harm your eyesight. ... 
