A 21-year-old woman in Dongguang, China, lost her vision in her right eye after playing an online mobile game on her smartphone for an entire day. Wu Xiaojing said that she can no longer see from her right eye after her 24-hour obsession of playing a popular game called King of Glory.
According to reports, the incident took place on Oct 1 and she was hospitalised at Donggiang Huaxia Eye Hospital the next day. The doctors have diagnosed Wu with retinal artery occlusion that can be described as a painless loss of monocular vision. The doctors said that such a condition normally occurs in elderly people and is irreversible, resulting in permanent loss of vision.
Wu, who is self-employed, said that playing games on her phone is her "only hobby" and she used to play whenever she was free. She was so obsessed with it that she preferred to stay at home during weekends and play games rather than going outside.
AsiaOne quoted Wu as saying that she would normally wake up at 6am and will start gaming after breakfast till around 4pm. She will then take a nap and continue playing till 1am or 2am.
"Sometimes I lose track of time, I don't eat even when my parents ask me to," she told AsiaOne. "Now I feel afraid and regret (for not listening to them)."
Wu's parents claim that they have tried to persuade her to put her phone down and even warned her of "going blind". But, she never listened.
The doctors, who are treating Wu at the hospital, have warned of staring at a computer or smartphone screen for hours on end as it causes excessive fatigue to eyes.
At present, Wu is still in hospital under doctor care. But, it is not known if she will get back her eyesight.
Meanwhile, this is not the first case of temporary smartphone blindness. There have been inumerous reported cases around the world of patients suffering from temporary smartphone blindness after using their smartphone while in bed and with the lights switched off.
Last year in August, a 31-year-old Taiwanese woman reportedly suffered temporary vision loss in her right eye after playing Pokemon Go on her mobile phone for an extended period of time.
So, if you have also have similar habits, it's high time that you should change your practice to maintain a proper eyesight.
