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Early morning sun gazing ritual in India may cause chronic solar retinopathy
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The early morning religious ritual of sun gazing may be causing patients in India to experience chronic solar retinopathy with macular changes and a decrease in visual acuity, according to a speaker here.
“Sun gazing as a ritual can cause chronic solar retinopathy. Macular changes on OCT and fundus are very characteristic. Any person with these characteristic macular changes should always be asked about sun gazing,” Shaileen Parikh, MS, DO, FMRF, said at the American Society of Retina Specialists annual meeting.
The retrospective case series included 36 patients who were examined after complaining of a mild decrease in visual acuity or were seen for a routine eye examination. Best corrected visual acuity of the cohort ranged from 20/20 to 20/80, with a mean of 20/40, Parikh said.
Thirty patients were found to have a history of sun gazing for more than 1 year, he said.
After a fundus examination, Parikh said 70.8% of eyes had subretinal yellowish deposits and 59.7% had retinal pigment epithelium mottling; mean central foveal thickness in the cohort was 175 µm. Other common OCT findings were central foveal thinning, lamellar macular holes and a collection of materials with hyperreflectivity in the foveal space, he said. – by Robert Linnehan
Reference:
Parikh S. Clinical and OCT findings in chronic solar retinopathy. Presented at: American Society of Retina Specialists annual meeting; July 20-25, 2018; Vancouver, British Columbia.
Disclosure: Parikh reports no relevant financial disclosures.