Over the years, smartphone screens have gotten brighter, and while that’s generally a helpful thing, it can come with a surprising side effect – temporary blindness.
Two women in the U.K. recently sought medical attention due to short term yet repeated vision losses in one eye. As such a condition can be a sign of serious health problems, both were thoroughly examined and subjected to a number of tests.
Ultimately, doctors realized the problem was that they both had a habit of looking at their smartphone screens in the dark and while in bed.
The experts hypothesize that both of the women unknowingly had an obstruction, like a pillow, blocking one of their eyes. As retinas adapt for light conditions, that left them with one eye set to bright mode and the other fine-tuned for darkness. The vision loss ensued for as long as it took the retinas to stabilize.
According to the doctors, the condition, called ’transient smartphone blindness,' poses no long-term danger.
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