Ice and snow sports are popular, and 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 their children, meet friends or even go alone to a snow and ice trip is really a fresh and trendy choice. However, there are many risks hidden in the snow and ice for newcomers, and if you are not careful, you will face accidents such as falls, broken bones, and trauma. Dr. Yang Fan, an attending physician at the Optometry Center of the Shanghai Eye Disease Prevention and Treatment Center (Shanghai Eye Hospital), pointed out that in ophthalmology, "snow blindness" is a "common disease" for tourists in cold areas in winter.
"Snow blindness" is also known as "electro-optic ophthalmitis", in glaciers, snow and other areas, due to the increase in the reflection of sunlight from 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 eyes and conjunctiva, thus causing patients to have symptoms such as stinging pain in both eyes, congestion and edema, burning sensation, photophobia and tears, 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 happening is what we want to see. Because "snow blindness" is an eye injury that occurs in specific environments and places, people who have been in ice and snow for a long time, such as tourists enjoying snow and snow, staff working in ice and snow environments, or outdoor skiing and skating athletes, 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;
Thirdly, for people who wear contact lenses daily, it is also important to take off their glasses in time to reduce the harm of the 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 everyone that "snow blindness", as a subtype of electro-optic ophthalmia, specifically refers to eye damage that occurs in ice and snow environments, in fact, electro-optic ophthalmia does not only occur in ice and snow environments, but also in deserts, seaside, plateaus and other environments with high ultraviolet exposure, similar injuries may occur, so we still need to remain vigilant, do a good job of protection, and embrace a beautiful holiday and travel.
Author: Yang Fan, attending physician of Shanghai Eye Disease Prevention and Control Center.