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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Asian J Neurosurg 2020; 15(03): 479-483
DOI: 10.4103/ajns.AJNS_187_19
Original Research Article

The onset and recovery timeline of visual photosensitivity following mild traumatic brain injury with special focus on habitual digital device screens users

Matuli Das
Department of Ophthalmology, Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
,
Narendra Das
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
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Primary Objective: Visual photosensitivity following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) can cause mild discomfort to significant pain and can affect a person's ability to lead a regular life and perform normal activities. The purpose of the present study is twofold: (1) To determine the recovery pattern of visual photosensitivity following mTBI and (2) to find out whether the onset of visual photosensitivity and its recovery pattern is any different among habitual screen users (HSU) (chronic exposure to digital device screens). Materials and Methods: This study was a hospital-based prospective, analytical, observational study. The study period was from July 2017 to March 2019. All the mTBI patients with visual photosensitivity who fulfilled the inclusion Criteria were followed up for 1 year to capture their recovery profile. Results: In 60% of the patients, the time of appearance of visual photosensitivity was at around 3 month's post-mTBI. Nearly 66.6% of patients suffering from visual photosensitivity following mTBI recovered within 3 months following the onset of their symptoms. The symptoms of visual photosensitivity appeared earlier among the HSU as compared to nonscreen users (P = 0.0039). The recovery from the symptoms of visual photosensitivity following mTBI is delayed in HSU (P = 0.0028). The patients in whom the symptoms of visual photosensitivity persisted beyond a year were predominantly HSU (P = 0.0062). Conclusions: The present study has given a new insight on the timeline of recovery for the patients with visual photosensitivity following mTBI. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only study which has shown how chronic exposure to blue light from digital device screens can affect the recovery of visual symptoms such as visual photosensitivity following mTBI.

Key-words:

Habitual screen users - mild traumatic brain injury - visual photosensitivity

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.




Publication History

Received: 23 June 2019

Accepted: 04 May 2020

Article published online:
16 August 2022

© 2020. Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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