The just-concluded Winter Olympics aroused many people’s interest in ice and snow sports. Seeing Gu Ailing’s heroic appearance on the ski resort, many people were eager to go skiing.
Recently, a 10-year-old boy was taken to the ophthalmology department of Linping District Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine by his father after six hours of skiing.
Zhang Guoying, an ophthalmologist who received him, immediately examined him and found that the boy had obvious conjunctival hyperemia and edema in both eyes, diffuse epithelial punctate damage to the cornea in the palpebral fissure area, and positive fluorescein staining. Snow Blindness”.
Snow blindness, also known as “electro-optic ophthalmia”, is an inflammation caused by damage to the cornea and conjunctival epithelium caused by ultraviolet rays. Symptoms such as blurring usually appear 3-12 hours after skiing.
Zhang Guoying said that the reflection of ultraviolet rays by snow is as high as 85%-95%. Even on cloudy days without sunlight, there will also be strong ultraviolet reflections on the snow field. Ultraviolet rays are focused by the lens and reach the macula of the retina, causing thermal burns of the tissue and loss of vision. However, Zhang Guoying comforted the child’s father and went back to use a cold towel to apply ice to the child’s eyes, and take medicine under the guidance of the doctor, and it will be better in a day or two.
Zhang Guoying reminded that you must wear sunglasses or protective glasses when doing snow activities or work to avoid injury as much as possible, and take a 15-30 minute rest after 1-2 hours of skiing. It should be noted that wearing inferior sunglasses can easily dilate the pupils, and the amount of ultraviolet rays invading the eyes is greater than when not wearing sunglasses, so choose sunglasses marked with “UV protection”. Athletes wear protective goggles when skiing, in fact, to prevent ultraviolet rays from burning the eyes and prevent the cornea from being stimulated by strong wind.
In addition, in addition to snow, you should also wear goggles in other strong light scenes, such as plateaus, deserts, seas and other places where the eyes are susceptible to a large amount of ultraviolet reflection.