Photokeratitis

The photoelectrica keratoconjunctivitis, keratitis photoelectrica, Photokeratitis or verblitzung, is an injury to the cornea of the eye, which is caused by strong UV radiation. Common causes include welding without shielding ( eg safety goggles ), quartz lamp irradiation or light radiation at high altitudes.

The mechanism of injury is similar to the sunburn. Damage of the dividing cells of the epithelium by the radiation leads to a latency characteristic of about eight hours in the death of the affected cells, with the result of an inflammatory response of the surrounding tissue. On the cornea of ​​the eye, there is feinfleckigen defects ( superficial punctate keratitis ) of the upper layer, typically cause severe pain, blepharospasm, lacrimation and a visual acuity reduction.

The symptoms occur because the latency is usually in the early morning hours. With a cure is to be expected after 24-48 hours due to the regenerative capacity of the corneal epithelium usually. The treatment is limited to pain-relieving measures ( eye ointment, painkillers ). Local anesthetics are used only for diagnosis.