Parents warned common item found in kids' bedrooms could be causing them harm

Parents have been warned a common item in their childrens' bedrooms could be causing them harm. Little they may realise, the popular light could be causing damage. Advice was issued by

Dr Saurabh Sethi who claims having a night light could harm your child's vision. According to him, the small night light could be "silently damaging" their eyesight over time.

He said, in order to protect your child's health, it's best to avoid certain kinds. Though opinions on how much damage they can cause vary, he thinks they have the potential to

lead to problems later down the line. He recently shared a video on social media where he highlighted the potential issues. As he posted the expert advice, he revealed what all parents need

to know. >  He said: "Kids who sleep with night lights or dim lights are more likely to develop myopia - that is nearsightedness - as they grow. But those who sleep in a completely

dark room are at much lower risk. "Here is why. Even with eyes closed, blue light can pass through kids' thinner eyelid skin, and it stimulates melanopsin cells in the eye, messing

with the circadian rhythms and eye development. "This can cause eyes to grow too long, leading to blurry distance vision. And the fix - blackout curtains, avoid blue or white night

lights and opt for a dim red light far from the bed, if needed." WHAT IS MYOPIA? Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a common vision condition which causes close objects to look clear but

far objects to appear blurry. This occurs when the shape of the eye, or the shape of specific parts of it, cause light rays to bend or refract. Light rays that are meant to focus on nerve

tissues at the back of the eye, called the retina, basically focus in front of the retina instead. The condition normally develops during childhood and adolescence. It's a condition

that can run in families and, usually, it becomes more stable between the ages of 20 and 40. You can have an eye exam to see if you have it, and the blurry vision can be aided with glasses,

contact lenses or refractive surgery. While some medical professionals claim night lights can impact a child's eyes, studies have been conflicted. At the moment, no conclusive

scientific evidence suggests that blue night lights directly cause myopia, however; some early studies suggest there may be a link. Factors like genetics and spending less time outdoors are

more likely to be linked to myopia development and, just because your child uses a night light, doesn't mean they will ever develop the condition. However, in 1999, one study uncovered

a possible link. The study focused on 479 children between the ages of two and 16. "Our findings suggest that the absence of a nightly period of full darkness in early childhood may be

an important risk factor in the development of nearsightedness," said Richard Stone, senior investigator and professor of ophthalmology at the Scheie Eye Institute in Pennsylvania at

the time. "The study does not establish that night time lighting during early childhood is a direct cause of myopia. "Still, it would seem advisable for infants and young children

to sleep at night without artificial lighting in the bedroom until further research can evaluate all the implications of our results."