Staring directly at the sun is an obvious no-go.
But even staring at the shine on your phone screen for too long can also damage your eyes, experts have now warned.
Two patients suffered retinal damage after being caught by the strong reflection of the sun.
Both were certain they weren’t looking directly at the sun, leading doctors to conclude the glare on their devices was to blame.
A 30-year-old man who spent four hours reading his tablet on the terrace of a ski center had distorted vision and had trouble seeing objects in the distance. His problems cleared up over time.
Another patient, a 20-year-old woman who used her phone on the beach for three hours, was not so lucky. She was left with a blind spot in the center of her vision.
Spanish ophthalmologists who treated both patients said more awareness of the potential risks was needed.
They wrote in the Journal of Medical Case Reports that the reflection of the sun from electronic devices “must be considered” as a risk factor for developing solar maculopathy — a condition that usually only occurs in people exposed to direct sunlight or without an eclipse look sunglasses.
Doctors in Spain have now reported the first two patients who have had eye problems from the sun reflecting off their phone and laptop screens. One unidentified patient had spent four hours reading from his device on the terrace of a ski center while the other had spent three hours looking at her phone on the beach
The two cases, neither of which were named, are said to be the “firsts” of their kind.
The 30-year-old arrived at the University Hospital of Santiago de Compostelal with bilateral metamorphopsia – a visual defect that causes straight lines to appear rounded.
He also had a central scotoma — a blind spot in the middle of his vision — and had trouble seeing distant objects.
Two days earlier, while on a skiing holiday, he had spent four hours reading outdoors on his tablet computer.
Scans showed the man had a “faint greyish smudge” on his fovea, a part of the eye used to see things clearly – such as when reading or driving.
In another case, a 20-year-old woman was hospitalized with a similar blind spot in her vision and also had trouble seeing distant shapes.
The day before she had been reading her cell phone for three hours on the beach.
An eye scan showed the woman had a “small yellowish lesion” on the macula of each eye – the center of the retina needed to see objects such as faces and written words clearly.
She also had a punctate scar on her outer plexiform layer of her retina – essential for spatial awareness – and the photoreceptor layer that absorbs light.
dr Joaquín Marticorena and colleagues said both scan results confirmed the patients had solar maculopathy.
While it is usually triggered by looking directly at the sun, it has been known to occur in people who walk in bright light on snow or sand without eye protection – as both substances reflect light into the eyes.
Those affected may be temporarily or permanently sensitive to light, as well as having distorted vision or a blind spot.
The male patient received no treatment and at a follow-up visit four weeks later the scars on the eye had improved. Two months later he had fully recovered.
The patient, who also received no treatment, still had a blind spot and scars on the retinal layers a week later.
While some symptoms improved after five months, she was left with a long-term scotoma in her right eye.
Doctors found that the solar maculopathy can get better on its own — as in the man’s case — if the eye heals from the inside out.
However, if the sun later damaged a patient’s outer retina, they may have a blind spot in their vision.
The medics said it’s because sunlight wipes out photoreceptors on a specific part of the eye, which are needed to convert light into electrical signals that are sent to the brain for processing.
Both patients suffered more severe damage to their dominant right eye, which doctors say suggests damage was caused by the sun when they stared at their device for long periods while reading.
They explained that when the sun hits reflective technical screens, it causes a mirror-like reflection that is just as powerful as the sun itself.
While some people may avoid the reflection by tilting their device, others may simply increase the brightness of their device to counteract the reflection.
However, doctors warned that the latter does not reduce the brightness of the sun hitting the eye.
They added that reflection of the sun from electronic devices “must be considered” as a risk of solar maculopathy.
They urged people to wear sunglasses when looking at devices outdoors when the sun is shining.
