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Conditions and Diseases > Vision and Eye Disorders Forum > Eye damage from photo-therapy
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Q: Eye damage from photo-therapy
asked by: DoctorQuestion on September 16th, 2008
My question is about my grandson's eyes not being properly protected while undergoing phototherapy used to treat jaundice after he was born at 32 weeks gestation.

I believe the very inadequate lack of eye care he received while being treated for jaundice has greatly contributed to or exacerbated his eye conditon. I have read nearly everyone online that an "infants eyes must be properly protected", but more times than not, his eye mask was off, exposing his eyes completely. Even though his eyes may have been closed, his skin was nearly see through and the very bright light would easily be able to penetrate his very thin eyelids.

I am very limited to what I can write here, but I have gone into great detail and have some photos on a webpage I posted about this.

www.mywoowoo.com/jaundice/

It is a bit lengthy, but I would appreciate it if you could please take the time to read it and hopefully give me some answers.


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Dr. Nikola Gjuzelov , MD
replied on September 22nd, 2008
Vision and Eye Disorders Answer A4719


It is true that ultraviolet light, which is used during the photo-therapy, can damage the eye's retina if the eyes are directly exposed. That's why covering the eyes with an eye mask is absolutely necessary. But eye damage from photo-therapy depends upon the time exposed to UV-light without eye protection. In your grandson's case it is very hard to find out how long the baby was exposed to photo-therapy without eye protection.

There are a few more things that need to be considered:
1.Which part of your grandson's eyes was damaged and resulted in blurred vision and inability to focus? It is obvious that something is wrong with his eyes but can this be eye damage caused by the photo therapy? Precise diagnosis and an opinion from an ophthalmologist is absolutely necessary.
2.Your grandson was born prematurely which is another risk for birth defects including blindness.
3.Blindness and inability to focus could also be due to a neurological disorder which can't be related to the photo-therapy.

You should ask for an expert opinion from an ophthalmologist.




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