Snow blindness

Snow blindness or photokeratitis is an irritating and painful eye condition caused by overexposure to ultraviolet light, which may cause temporary blindness.

Snow blindness is a common problem among mountaineers, fishermen, skiers and workers at polar stations. This is mainly caused by light reflected from snow, ice or light colored sand. Snow and ice reflect more than 80% of the light. Even in cloudy weather, when there is no direct sunlight, the snow reflects ultraviolet rays. The problem gets worse, if there is a strong wind and the air is dry. During snow blindness, the cornea of the eye and the conjunctiva suffer. The cornea has no blood vessels, so it receives moisture and nutrition along with tears when we blink. With dry air and wind, lacrimal glands do not have time to provide moisture to cornea, so it gets irritated faster.

History

The first people who faced this problem were the participants of expeditions in Arctic and Antarctic. Alexander Macklin, who was one of the surgeons of the expedition of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, indicates snow blindness as one of four problems of polar sailing, along with scurvy, seasickness and frostbite.

In 1893, the Royal Geographical Society publishes a book – Tips for Travelers, which describes how people, who live high in the mountains, rub black soot around the eye sockets and on the tip of the nose, to protect themselves from snow blindness.

Participants of the expedition on the “Terra Nova” ship used this method in 1910-13, since they did not have sunglasses.

Symptoms of snow blindness

We have small dense nerves in our cornea, which is why it is so sensitive to external irritants. Usually we start to feel discomfort after 30 minutes of exposure to strong sunlight.

Symptoms of snow blindness are:

• Tingling inside the eye
• Burning in the eyes
• The feeling that something is in your eye, but you cannot remove it
• Headache
• Fever
• Red eyes
• In especially severe cases, temporary blindness is possible, which is where the name of this condition came from.

However, very often, snow blindness can occur quite late – up to 12 hours. Often, after winter hikes, when you get home and in the evening go to bed, you may experience severe eye pain, making it difficult to fall asleep.

What to do in case of snow blindness?

Usually snow blindness goes away on its own. However, since you do not immediately feel that your eyes are “burning”, you need to follow one simple rule – protect your eyes from strong sunlight. Just wear good quality sunglasses that completely absorb ultraviolet rays.

You can also apply black eyeliner around your eyes, just like some heroes in action movies. Eyeliner is very useful, but not required. Modern high quality sunglasses fully cope with this task.

Indigenous people of the Arctic used to wear a protection made of wood, leather or an antler that looked like sunglasses. Two narrow cuts were made on it, through which people could see. This way they were limiting the penetration of light into their eyes.

In case of snow blindness

If you got snow blindness, here are some tips to avoid further complications.

• Firstly, you need to create comfortable conditions for your eyes
• You need to stay indoors, under low room lighting
• Do not read books or sit in front of the computer or TV, or at least dim the brightness of the screen
• Put compress on your forehead and eyes
• Use moisturizing or anti-inflammatory, anti-allergenic eye drops (Oftagel, Defislez, Dexamethazone eye drops, etc., ask in pharmacies)
• If within the next 2-3 days the pain and irritation do not go away then you should definitely consult a doctor, as there may be other consequences.

You need to take this issue seriously. Always take high-quality sunglasses with you and wear them at least during the strong sun and winter hikes. Do not make excuses that you do not wear sunglasses, that they make your head hurt, or that glasses do not suit you. Remember that eye is the most fragile part of our body, and the healing process of a damaged eye is very long and difficult.

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