Is Tying Black Eye Mask Harmful To The Eyes?

Posted on Wed, 11 Jun 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 11 Jun 2014 Answered on

Tue, 1 Jul 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : when my brother & I were children in the 1940s we would put on a black eye mask and we saw designs like stars , rotating circles, etc. We would ask each other what kind of design we were seeing. My mother decided they were bad for our eyes and would not let us use them. I found an article on the internet confirming this and now I can not find it. Have you heard of this.

Answered by Dr. Lohit K (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Chronic use can cause problem

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

I went through the query and understood your concern.

Yes. Chronic use of such black eye mask will cause problem as our eyes stain for adjusting to different pattern appearing and also for different distances. Only occasional use will not affect your eyes.

The problem if happened in childhood days cannot appear now. The problem (symptoms) will appear very early if chronic use. There won't be any gap in appearing symptoms as our eye has very excellent adjustment mechanisms.

I hope this information helps you and answered your query. Feel free to ask if you have any further queries and I will be glad to answer them.

Wish you good health.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar