Smartphone’s have changed our lives easier but there is a flip side too. They cause eye problems like vision impairment, says a leading laser eye surgeon.

Surgeon David Allambym has revealed that Smartphone’s have caused cases of myopia (short-sightedness) among young people to surge.

Allamby, founder of Focus Clinics, has reported a 35 percent of people are suffering with advancing myopia, due to the launch of Smartphone’s in 1997, and warns that Myopia in young adults could increase by 50 percent within 10 years.

Half of Britons own Smartphone’s and spend an average of two hours per day using them. Combined with the amount of hours spent in front of a computer screen, laptop, tablet and television, it means that particularly young people and children are at risk of permanently damaging their vision.

New research found that the average Smartphone user holds the handset 30 cm from their face, with some people holding it just 18 cm away, compared to newspapers and books, which are held 40cm away from the eyes.

According to Allamby, watching and operating Smartphone’s at a close proximity keeps the genes well beyond and the short-sightedness would historically have stabilized, around the age of 21. This is known as `epigenetics`. Myopia used to stop in our early 20s but now we see it progressing throughout the 20s, 30s, and even into our 40s.

“If things continue as they are, I predict that 40-50 percent of 30-year-olds could have myopia by 2033 as a result of smart phones and lifestyles in front of screens, an epidemic we call Screen-Sightedness.

Parents and people should limit screen time wherever possible even by going outside without their phone for a period of time each day, and also seriously consider the age at which they give their children a Smartphone,” Allamby said.

It is predicted that by 2014 children aged 12 to 17 years will be the second biggest market for Smartphone’s behind 18-24 year olds.