Total solar eclipse of 11 August 1999: programme of prevention and surveillance of ocular complications

Watching directly at the sun without appropriate protection, particularly d uring a solar eclipse can cause severe retinal injuries. On 11 August 1999, a total solar eclipse crossed France. The Direction Generale de la Sante i mplemented a prevention strategy. A formal agreement was developed with man ufacturers and importers of protective glasses and more than 30 million gla sses conformed with safety standards, were distributed in France. Informati on campaign reach the whole population in France. In order to evaluate the impact of this campaign, The National Institute of Public Health in France implemented a nation-wide surveillance of ocular complications related to t he eclipse. Information on patients was collected using a standardised ques tionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to the 5,600 private and public secto r ophthalmologists practising in France and to five hundred hospital emerge ncy units. A total of 147 patients were reported to have had a retinal inju ry associated with viewing the eclipse. Seventeen cases were severe (visual acuity < 2/10th) of whom 7 had bilateral injury. Forty-four per cent of pa tients were aged 15 to 29 years and 46 % viewed the eclipse in three region s in the south of France which were sunny on 11th August. One hundred and s ix patients (67 % aged 30 years and more) presented with keratitis. Thirty- six per cent occurred in 2 nothern regions of France, which were overcast o n the dal: A hundred patients watched the whole eclipse without any protect ion, 74 reported to have removed their EC glasses and 32 used non-appropria te devices. Only 4 patients presenting with retinal injury reported having used the EC glasses the whole time whilst viewing the eclipse. France is th e only country in Europe to have implemented an exhaustive prospective surv eillance of ocular injuries related to the solar eclipse According to curre nt data, the quality and availability of EC glasses did not contribute sign ificantly to ocular injuries. Clinical and epidemiological studies are bein g conducted in order to further document the evolution of patients presenti ng with retinal injuries, the circumstances of observation, and their compr ehension of preventive messages.