Shanghai, Feb. 9 (Reporter Chen Jing) Nowadays, for southerners who rarely see heavy snow or have never seen snow in person, taking advantage of the winter and Spring Festival holidays to take a trip to ice and snow is a fresh and trendy choice. However, activities in the snow and ice can be a source of risks for newcomers.
Yang Fan, the attending physician of the optometry center of the Shanghai Eye Disease Prevention and Treatment Center (Shanghai Eye Hospital), told reporters in an interview on the 9th that in the field of ophthalmology, "snow blindness" is a "common disease" for tourists in cold areas in winter.
Yang Fan introduced, "snow blindness" is also known as "electric ophthalmia", in glaciers, snow and other areas, due to the increase in the reflection of sunlight in the surrounding environment, the ultraviolet content directly into the eye is also greatly increased, excessive ultraviolet rays will cause a series of damage to the corners of the eye and conjunctiva, thus causing patients to have symptoms such as stinging in both eyes, congestion and edema, burning sensation, photophobia and tearing, and more serious will cause transient vision loss or even temporary blindness.
After understanding the causes of "snow blindness", how to avoid the occurrence of injuries and prevent them from occurring? Yang Fan said that because "snow blindness" is an eye injury that occurs in specific environments and places, people who have been in the ice and snow environment for a long time, such as tourists who enjoy the snow and play in the snow, staff working in the ice and snow environment or outdoor skiing and skating athletes, etc., need to wear sunglasses or protective goggles to effectively isolate excessive ultraviolet rays in the environment.
For patients who are accidentally infected with "snow blindness" due to inadequate protective measures in the early stage, the first thing is to get rid of the current high ultraviolet environment, which is conducive to reducing the continuous irritation and damage of the eyes; One of the typical symptoms of "snow blindness" is eye tingling and foreign body sensation, many patients try to relieve eye discomfort by rubbing their eyes, but this improper behavior will further damage the already fragile ocular surface and aggravate the condition; Third, for people who wear contact lenses on a daily basis, it is also important to take off ** glasses in time to reduce the harm of disease. In the first time of the occurrence of "snow blindness", or if the condition cannot be accurately judged, it is recommended that you seek medical attention in time, and you can use corneal epithelial repair and other eye drops under the guidance of a doctor**.
Finally, Dr. Yang Fan reminded the public that "snow blindness", as a subtype of electro-optic ophthalmia, specifically refers to eye injuries that occur in ice and snow environments, in fact, electro-optic ophthalmia does not only occur in ice and snow environments, but also in deserts, seashores, plateaus and other environments with high ultraviolet radiation, similar injuries may occur, so it is still necessary for everyone to remain vigilant, do a good job of protection, and embrace a beautiful holiday and travel. (ENDS).