CHANDIGARH: Excessive usage of mobile phones in children has been resulting in squint and double vision. Doctors from the Advanced Eye Centre at PGI conducted the study and the research paper was published in an international journal of

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The study documented cases of three children aged eight, 10 and 12, who had developed squint and double vision after using mobile phones for more than four hours per day during their summer break that lasted a month. On stopping the use of mobile phones, these children recovered completely within three to eight weeks. "It's an eye opener for all of us. At present, the department is probing into the ill-effects of smart phones on human eyes. Till we gain better insights into the root cause of these defects, we should make sure that children refrain from using mobile phones excessively," said research associate and the first author of the at PGI, Savleen Kaur.

The children were discouraged from using smartphones, and were asked to put

drops, which help in relaxing the eye muscles, twice daily for two weeks. When the symptoms subsided, the frequency of the drops were reduced and finally stopped. In addition, they were given photochromatic glasses to help them protect their eyes from UV radiations.

The study has been done by the paediatric

team, including Dr Savleen, Dr Manpreet Singh and Dr Jaspreet Sukhija. The study also pointed out that dry eye and refractive errors are some of the known side-effects of using smartphones for longer durations.

"There is a need to do an extensive study on this and include more cases. These days children are addicted to mobile phones and one must keep these away from them as excessive usage also affects the concentration and reduces their response rate," said ophthalmologist and director at PGI, Dr Jagat Ram.

The study documented that excessive use of smartphones leads to excessive stimulation of ciliary muscle- smooth muscles in the eyes that controls accommodation for viewing objects at varying distances. "We hypothesize that overaccommodation while indulging in excessive close reading and viewing leads to spasm in these patients," said Savleen.

The doctors added that the three children could recover with medication mainly because the excessive usage of smartphones in their cases only lasted for a month. "Long-term effect can result in amblyopia- lazy eye- in which there is a discord between the brain and the eye. It results in decreased vision," said Dr Savleen.