TRANSCRIPT
Fourteen-year-old Avash Shakya was born into a family with short-sightedness.
He says he initially underestimated the severity of his situation.
"I went and got tested, it came back pretty badly and I was like, come on, can't be that bad and then I put on the glasses for the first time and I was like, oh that's how I am supposed to see now. And from then on, it was just so much better."
It wasn't until he was in year four, when his parents realised he needed help.
His mother, Puspa Rawal, says they began to notice little things.
"Progressively we were noticing that he was getting closer and closer to the telly. And then we were like, something's not quite right. So we went to have his eyes checked. And it was quite bad so, it was a bit confronting."
Avash was referred to the Lions Eye Institute in Perth who were studying myopia in young adults at the time.
Senior Research Fellow Dr Samantha Lee says there were other people near Avash's age facing similar issues.
"We found that within this eight year period, around one in three of these young people have a progression of their short-sightedness, so their eye-sight got worse during these eight years, which is quite unexpected."
Dr Samantha Lee used data collected from 600 young adults to figure out if digital screens had an impact on the development of myopia.
She says she discovered that short-sightedness got worse in those who logged six or more hours per day behind a computer screen while time spent on a mobile phone had little to no impact.
"When you hold your mobile phone close to your face, it's pretty small but everything around the mobile phone is far away. So the brain registers that most things around are far away and it tells the eyes that there is no need to be short-sighted."
Experts say spending more time outdoors can help delay the start of myopia, especially at an early age.
For others who have to work, taking a break or even bringing your screen outside where the sun is shining, can help.
Avash's father, Deepak, says they need to be more wary of the time their son spends with his computer, something which is made more difficult due to how common their use has become in people's daily lives.
"Now what we need to do is be, even more cautious because they are using computer screens for games, studies and everything. So we just have to make sure that the time they spent on the bigger screens are limited."
Dr Lee is hoping to further her research and look at the genes that may cause the early onset and progression of myopia.
"There are lots of interventions out there that can potentially also slow down the progression of myopia, such as atropine eye drops and de-focus spectacles for contact lenses."
