Two women in the United Kingdom are suffering from spells of temporary blindness after they frequently checked their phones while lying on their sides at night.
Doctors detailed the case in a new study from the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday where they looked at the two women, ages 22 and 40 at the time, and how they experienced "transient smartphone blindness" over the course of a few months, Live Science reports. According to the study, doctors hypothesized that these problems came from the women lying on their sides with one eye focusing on the light from their phones while the other eye was covered in the dark by a pillow.
"What the patients are aware of is the differing visual experience between a light-adapted eye … and a dark-adapted eye … at low ambient light levels," the doctor stated in the report, according to Live Science. "As they can see well with the dark-adapted eye, it seems to them that they have lost vision in the eye which -- a moment ago -- was viewing the smartphone normally."
The Associated Press reports Dr. Gordon Plant of Moorfield's Eye Hospital in London said that he asked the women what happened and they explained how they rested on their sides while checking their phones.
"So you have one eye adapted to the light because it's looking at the phone and the other eye is adapted to the dark," he said.
According to the study, the doctors expect to see more cases like this in the future due to the popularity of smartphones, but it is something that can easily be avoided by users.
"Our cases show that detailed history-taking and an understanding of retinal physiology can reassure both patient and doctor (in these cases), and can avoid unnecessary anxiety and costly investigations," the doctors wrote.
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