Extreme heatwaves can lead to an eye condition that can cause blindness

Extreme heatwaves can lead to an eye condition that can cause blindness

2026-07-30

Taiwan’s extreme heatwaves can damage your eyes. A woman in Kaohsiung spent a long time in the heat and then stayed up late after returning home. This resulted in severe pain in her eyes. She was then diagnosed with uveitis, which is inflammation of the middle pigmented vascular layer of the eyeball. It is a serious condition that requires urgent medical attention. If left untreated it can even lead to blindness. Let’s find out more.

In this photo is a patient’s cornea, which is covered with dense deposits of inflammatory cells.

A 24-year-old woman surnamed Lin in Kaohsiung experienced sudden redness, swelling and severe pain in her eyes after working in the sun for several days, coupled with staying up late and lack of sleep. She couldn’t even open her eyes in bright light and her eyes were constantly watering. After emergency medical examination, doctors diagnosed her with acute uveitis.

Hung Chi-ting
Ophthalmologist
Since she works in sales, she has to be out and about. Doctors usually assume it’s conjunctivitis, but what I saw inside her eyes looked like large, patchy areas, like pimples. So I suspected it might be uveitis.

This doctor says extreme high temperatures and drastic temperature differences between indoors and outdoors can easily lead to changes in the permeability of blood vessels, causing inflammatory cells such as white blood cells and proteins to leak into the aqueous humor.

Hung Chi-ting
Ophthalmologist
When she first came here, her vision was at 0.8, but when it got really severe, it dropped to 0.2. Because of humid heat caused by extreme weather, our blood vessels are prone to leaking. So if you’re just sitting in an air-conditioned room, the chances of this happening aren’t that high.

This doctor notes this disease may still leave sequelae after treatment. When faced with extreme weather, in addition to guarding against heatstroke, people should also pay attention to their eye health.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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#uveitis #extremeweather #stayinghealthy #summerillnesses

女子長時間待高溫又熬夜　急性葡萄膜炎視力僅0.2

2026-07-30

極端氣候高溫肆虐，眼睛也可能出狀況！高雄一名女子，長時間待在高溫環境，回家後又熬夜，眼睛突然紅腫劇痛。就醫才發現，眼角膜居然長滿密密麻麻的白色沉積物，就像"長滿青春痘"一樣，一度視力剩下0.2，最後確診是急性葡萄膜炎，起因疑似就是劇烈高溫。

照片上看到的，就是患者的眼角膜，上頭出現密密麻麻發炎的細胞沉積物。

高雄一名24歲的林姓女子，因為工作連日曬太陽，加上回家後熬夜、睡眠不足，眼睛突然紅腫劇痛，強光一照根本睜不開，眼淚流個不停。緊急就醫檢查，醫師確診是"急性葡萄膜炎"。

[[眼科醫師洪啟庭]]
“剛好她本身是一個業務，所以她必須在外面跑，一般醫生會以為是結膜炎，可是我從她裡面就看到，覺得好像一大片，一大片，像長痘痘一樣的感覺，那我就懷疑她可能是葡萄膜炎”

醫師分析，極端高溫與室內外的劇烈溫差，容易導致人體血管的通透性改變，使得白血球、蛋白質等發炎細胞滲漏到房水內。

[[眼科醫師洪啟庭]]
“一開始來的時候(視力)還有0.8，等很嚴重的時候，視力只有0.2，因為極端氣候所造成的悶熱，我們血管很容易漏東西出來，所以說如果你純粹坐在冷氣房的話，發生機率不會那麼高”

醫師透露，這項疾病，治療後仍有可能留下後遺症，民眾面對極端氣候，除了預防中暑，別忘了也要注意，眼睛健康。

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