Vision
Eclipse-Related Emergency Ophthalmology Presentations Following the August 2026 Solar Eclipse in the United Kingdom
By Khawaja Muhammad Ammar Ali Javed, Emer Chang, Hanif Suleman and 5 others.
Abstract
Introduction
Solar eclipses can cause solar retinopathy, but eclipse-related presentations may reflect public concern as well as true retinal injury. We evaluated the immediate ophthalmic service impact of the 12 August 2026 solar eclipse in the United Kingdom and characterised associated clinical, imaging, and online search findings.
Methods
An observational case series was conducted at Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, a tertiary eye casualty unit serving Birmingham and the wider West Midlands, England. Patients attending on 13 August 2026 with new visual symptoms or concern about ocular injury after viewing the Sun or eclipse were identified. Clinical characteristics, viewing behaviour, presenting and pinhole visual acuity, and multimodal retinal imaging findings were recorded, including optical coherence tomography, colour fundus photography, and fundus autofluorescence. Google Trends was used to assess contemporaneous UK online search interest in eclipse- and eye-related terms.
