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On a promising daytime , you might be particularly careful about wear thin sunscreen to avoid sunburn . But is the skin the only part of the eubstance that can develop this painful , red roseola ? For example , can your centre get burn ?

According to experts , tan can also come along on some of our most fragile organs : oureyes .

Life’s Little Mysteries

Ultraviolet light from the sun can burn our eyes, and sometimes it can be painful.

" Photokeratitis is the technical term,“Dr . Steven Quan , an optometrist at the University of Chicago Medical Center , secern Live Science . " The estimation is ultraviolet illumination [ ultraviolet light ] radiation from the Dominicus , lengthy exposure or very high exposure of any kind of radiation can make a suntan to the corneal epithelial cells . "

The cornea is the eye ’s outmost aerofoil . Like the glass on the face of a wristwatch , the quartz - open open work as a protective covering for everything underneath it , Dr. Esen Akpek , a professor of ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , told Live Science . The cornea is made up offive layers : the epithelium , Bowman ’s layer , stroma , Descemet ’s membrane and endothelium . The outmost layer , the epithelium , is a very thin but tough aerofoil thatprotects the eyefrom detritus , water and bacteria . It also distributes atomic number 8 and nutrients absorbed from tears to the rest of the cornea .

" What happens to the eye when you get UV photo is that the epithelial layer loses its resiliency . Some of it sloughs off , " Akpek said . " Sometimes it might molt off fully , and that is very , very , highly afflictive , because properly below the level of the epithelium , there is a rich boldness rete . "

A man stands in the sun, squinting and blocking the sun with his hands

Ultraviolet light from the sun can burn our eyes, and sometimes it can be painful.

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Epithelial cells in the cornea are like to those in our skin , and like skin cellphone , they mature , die and regrow always .

" It ’s a natural process , " Akpek said . " But the turnover is at a sealed charge per unit . When the entire layer of epithelial tissue is break , then the regenerate cubicle can not regenerate fast enough , so the cornea becomes naked . "

A kid is shown looking at the solar eclipse while wearing special protective glasses

When exposed to lower level of UV , epithelial cells can all die off at once , rather than at their naturally staggered rate , Akpek explained . But at very eminent storey of photograph , UV can also kill the prow cell that give boost to fresh generated cells , causing scarring of the cornea and even sightlessness . " That ’s very rare , but that can happen , " Akpek said .

Most of the time , photokeratitis resolves on its own , but it can cause vivid eye pain , eye redness , blurry vision , swelling and headaches , per theAmerican Academy of Ophthalmology .

The condition is most common among people who do n’t wear right eye protection during activities that endanger them to intense ultraviolet radiation therapy , like welding , Akpek said . hoi polloi with snow - related hobbies or profession are also at risk of a form of photokeratitis often call " nose candy blindness , " in which ultraviolet light rays ruminate off the C. P. Snow and damage the cornea . Snow blindness is more common in areas with high coke and ice covering , like the North and South poles or high slew .

a photo of a young girl with her face mottled by sun damage

But Quan said modest corneal damage can occur even when hoi polloi are doing more vulgar action , like boating or gardening . UV rays can also reflect off surfaces such as sand or weewee . Although every somebody ’s lifestyle is different , he said , in general , get into a hat or shades that block 100 % of UV rays is a good way to foreclose eye scathe .

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" Some multitude get more wraparound sunglasses depending on their activities , " Quan said . " [ If ] you ’re on the water supply , you ’re on the side — those things where you get reflection factor from below — your hat ’s not really go to cover you . So that ’s where sunglasses are better . But if your job , or whatever you ’re doing , makes it very difficult to bear sunglasses , and the hat is really all you demand for upper protection , you ’re believably OK . It just depends . "

While photokeratitis is often call " sunburn of the eyes , " it normally does n’t pass to a tumor on the cornea in the way a suntan can increase the risk of tumors on theskin . But UV vulnerability can make eyelid tumour , which is technically skin cancer , Quan said . wear thin dark glasses can help protect against bothskin canceron the eyelids and photokeratitis and should be wear upon even in the winter .

A young woman wears blue solar eclipse glasses to observe a wonder of nature

" People are less aware or aware that in the winter , they ’re just as at risk to it as they are in the summer , " Quan said . " The amount of ultraviolet light that you get can be generally even higher . "

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