title: [Survey of ocular injury by solar eclipse 2009].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Incidence of ocular injury caused by the solar eclipse of 2009 has been investigated using the questionnaire of the Japan Committee of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.
  
  
  METHODS
  The questionnaire was available to the public on the website.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Answers were obtained from 14 people (12 men, 2 women), aged from sixteen to fifty-four. All had looked at the sun either with the naked eye or through some shading device (plastic sheet, plastic bag, compact disc, etc.) the safty of which is unknown. Reported symptoms included a sense of incongruity, heat, pain, central scotoma or visual disturbance, classified into four periods of duration. Three people with transient symptoms watched the eclipse with the naked eye for one minute in cloudy weather. Three people with symptoms lasting for one day and three people with symptoms lasting for one week had watched it with the naked eye and some shading device for 10 minutes in cloudy weather. Five people with symptoms lasting for more than one week watched the eclipse with the naked eye and through some sort of device in fine or slightly cloudy weather. Three people consulted their ophthalmologist.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Those who reported adverse symptoms did not comply with the instructions for safe watching of the eclipse and the duration of the symptoms depended on the weather and the type of device used.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Seirei Hamamatsu General Hospital, Japan. obana@sis.seirei.or.jp
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Obana
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Kouji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohnishi
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shinohara
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matsuo
authors.forename: Izumi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohkawa
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ono
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005131:Eye Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005135:Eye Protective Devices; D005260:Female; D005654:Fundus Oculi; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019445:Solar Activity