EyeWorld Asia-Pacific March 2018 Issue

61 EWAP NEWS & OPINION March 2018 light rays are when they’re coming off the snow.” That changes the way your eye deals with it. Because the unipolar light can bounce off snow and get in your eye quickly if you are not wearing tinted glasses or goggles, you can become temporari- ly blinded. Dr. Deobhakta said that especially if you’re moving quickly in sports such as skiing or snow- boarding, this temporary blindness can be dangerous. Jane Edmond, MD , professor, Departments of Ophthalmology and Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, noted that when the eyes are not sufficiently protected from the sun, this can result in UV keratitis. “It is like the worst bilater- al corneal abrasion you have ever had,” she said. “You cannot open your eyes, they’re constantly water- ing, and you’re in terrible pain.” Patients experience an aching and a stabbing pain, Dr. Edmond said. “It occurs some hours after the intense UV exposure,” she said. If you’re not wearing the proper UV goggles or sunglasses when dealing with reflected UV light, it damages the top surface of the cornea, the epithelium, and acts like a scratch or an abrasion, she explained. Ulti- mately, it will heal like almost every other abrasion, but in the mean- time, it feels like sandpaper across the part of the cornea that’s ex- posed. In addition to snow, this can occur near any reflective surface, such as a body of water, Dr. Edmond said. Treatment for UV keratitis is somewhat limited. Many times, patients have to wait it out. “Anoth- er treatment would be a bandage contact lens, just like with a corneal abrasion,” she said. When it came to the eclipse, none of the centers with which she is affiliated came across any cases of patients con- cerned about their post-eclipse vision. “There was a lot of media coverage in this regard,” Dr. Ed- mond said. “I hope it was due to our widespread campaign of eye safety.” EWAP Editors’ note: Drs. Deobhakta and Edmond have no financial interests related to their comments. Contact information Deobhakta: adeobhakta@nyee.edu Edmond: jcedmond@texaschildrens.org Watch, Learn, and Share! Video Ed Watch, Learn, and Share! Available on mobile devices, tablets, and desktops On demand! Clinical presentations recorded live at Cornea Day 2017 in Los Angeles Watch for our weekly emails every Saturday, broadcasting recorded live cornea presentations All content is archived for future reference Video Ed .CorneaSociety.org Copyright ©2017 Cornea Society. All rights reserved. Learn from the cornea experts! Scan to view video using EyeWorld AR app