"New Imaging Finds Crescent-Shaped Eye Damage In Woman Who Viewed Eclipse" - Ashley Strickland
On August 21, 26-year-old Nia Payne viewed the solar eclipse, not expecting she’d end up in the emergency room. Payne had eye damage, specifically a crescent shape blocking the center of her vision. Her experience is detailed in a case report published in the journal JAMA Opthalmology. A technology called adaptive optics allowed doctors to view the damage on a cellular level along with the microscopic structures in her eyes. Previously, this kind of detail could be seen only with glass slides and a microscope. Payne was diagnosed with solar retinopathy, a permanent condition with no treatment. Doctors say it may worsen or improve over time. The retina is “the camera of the eye,” and it converts lights into electrical energy so the brain can understand it,” said Avnish Deobhakta, MD, assistant professor of vitreoretinal surgery and ophthalmology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the author of the new report. Doctors believed that the eclipse glasses Payne used were not up to international safety standards. "We saw damage, a change in the center part of her retina, which corresponds with your central visual field.”
- Avnish Deobhakta, MD, Assistant Professor, Vitreoretinal Surgery, Ophthalmology, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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