Myth Debunked: Smartphones Can Prevent Glaucoma Blindness, Study Reveals

Joen Coronel, Tech Times 02 March 2021, 06:03 am

A recent study revealed that using smartphones will not always yield bad and adverse effects on your health, specifically your eyesight. People always believe that using the said devices will harm your eyes, but researchers said it could improve your vision.

Smartphones Can Positively Impact your Glaucoma Blindness by Preventing it

According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, glaucoma is the main culprit why people go blind. In line with this, the English researchers unlocked that smartphones could fill the gap in solving the health problem.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham have been successful in conducting a study about this research. They used an eye model and sound waves that are both important components to do the mobile measurement method.

According to the press release, this technique will help in detecting the Intraocular pressure (IOP) in the eye. When the levels of the IOP are high, this could lead to the imbalance of the fluid inside the eyes called the aqueous humor. Scientists said that the early diagnosis of the IOP will also mean early treatment.

It is estimated that over 3 million people have glaucoma in America, yet only half detected the condition. It is six to eight times more prevalent among African Americans compared to its European counterpart, the Caucasians.

Furthermore, the cataract is still the leading cause of blindness among the former race, but glaucoma mustn't be underestimated despite that it is only behind the cataract when it comes to causation.

In the same press release, the experts noted that long-term monitoring of a person's IOP can heighten the chances of the patient retaining his/her vision.

"We discovered a relationship between the internal pressure of an object and its acoustic reflection coefficient," the Advanced Manufacturing Group director Dr. Khamis Essa said in a statement.

In addition, the co-author of the study stated that smartphones could be a component in measuring IOP with accuracy, even if the patient is staying at home.

The Possible Lapses in the Study

While applanation tonometry is said to be a reliable technique for IOP measurement, it could still be possible that measurement errors cannot be avoided.

Applanation tonometry aims to test the eye's fluid pressure while the patient comes in contact with a flat-tipped cone that will touch the cornea. The process also involves equipment that supports the chin and forehead. Moreover, this method's objective is to know the amount of force required to flatten a portion of the eye's cornea.

The scientists concluded that using smartphones is a potential way to measure the soundwaves via an app called "Tone generator." It is deemed that the device that we commonly use daily will provide a suitable result for the study.

To access the full study entitled "Smartphones could help to prevent glaucoma blindness," visit the official page of the University of Birmingham for more details about it.