Is smartphone use risky for our glaucoma patients? The possibility of smartphones increasing eye pressure ( IOP)
under dim lighting should be taken very seriously as even brief fluctuations in IOP have previously been associated with disease progression.
Ha and colleagues found that cell phone use results in a mild but significant increase in IOP. Interestingly, they concluded that patients who had undergone filtration surgery did not have the same pressure increases as glaucoma patients being treated with pharmaceutical agents.
The study had numerous limitations including small sample size, homogenous populations, uncontrolled variables and lack of a definitive proposed mechanism for the IOP elevations. It was speculated that accommodation/convergence, dry eye, extraocular muscle contraction and neck posture (among other variables) could be at play.
It is safe to say that there is not a definitive opinion in the literature at this time regarding potentially harmful effects of cell phone use or other activities. Science is constantly evolving, and we owe it to our patients to continually reevaluate our understanding of disease. Otherwise, we risk a breach of trust and loss of faith in health care providers.
https://www.healio.com/news/optometry/20200129/smartphone-work-low-light-associated-with-increase-in-iop
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