Hospital sees increase in eye condition after Knock 'visions'

ColaBeDamned

The Irish Times - Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Hospital sees increase in eye condition after Knock 'visions'


PAMELA DUNCAN

A GALWAY eye surgeon has described as “unprecedented” the rise in the number of cases of an eye condition which he says can be directly attributed to people staring at the sun during recent events at the Knock shrine.

Dr Eamonn O’Donoghue, a consultant ophthalmologist surgeon in University Hospital Galway, says the hospital would usually see one case of solar retinopathy “at most” per year.

However, this year there have been five such cases, all of which have been linked to events at Knock.

Dr O’Donoghue said people needed to be warned of the condition as it was “potentially very, very dangerous” and could cause long-term damage to the most vulnerable part of the eye.

“These people came in because they have had a significant reduction in their vision and they could very well be a smaller representative sample,” Dr O’Donoghue said, adding that two of those who had presented to the hospital had also reported that other members of their families had suffered visual damage.

“It can potentially lead to blindness with prolonged exposure,” Dr O’Donoghue said. While he was unaware how the events were organised, he said, it would be “profoundly irresponsible” for anyone to encourage people to stare at the sun.

About 10,000 people attended a supposed apparition of the Virgin Mary at the Knock shrine in Co Mayo on October 31st. At this, and at a similar event on October 11th, people claimed to see the sun shimmering, changing colour and “dancing in the sky”.

Another apparition has been forecast by visionary Joe Coleman for this Saturday at 3pm. Attempts to contact Mr Coleman last night were unsuccessful.

Solar retinopathy, or eclipse retinopathy as it is also known, affects the macula and can cause a significant reduction in vision.

It can also lead to altered images, altered colour perception and blind spots.

While most people will recover their vision within six months, solar retinopathy has the potential to have a long-term degenerative effect on the retina.

He said that reports of people seeing colours dancing in front of the sun could also be explained by the condition, describing it as “sort of a cheap trick”.

“If you stare at the sun for long enough you’re going to get some visual disturbances. Not only will you get reduced vision but also a condition called metamorphopsia,” he said, adding that this could explain such visual alterations.

“Since the time of Galileo people have known that looking directly at the sun can do damage to your eyes,” Dr O’Donoghue added.

okioffice84

FFS

DazMarz

They probably were staring at the fúcking sun, looking for the ''Virgin Mary''. Load of bollockology is all that is. Get a grip.

consultech

This is hardly news; Blind faith is nothing new to the jesus freaks in this country...

baaaa

I've been waiting for this article.This is serious.Fools deserve to be seperated from their money but not their sight.
This man is going to cost the state thousands in medical bills and disability and ruin peoples lives.

gurramok

Feck medical help, they should get down to Knock and get those eyes healed pronto.

Helix

i have some magic beans thatll fix them right up

--Kaiser--

Brilliant. Darwinism at it's best.

GavRedKing

Must resist urge to post facepalm picture.

I dont know whats worse, looking directly at the sun or believing all this apperance shite.

super_furry

Bunch of bleedin' idiots. Shame he didn't tell them to put their hand in a fire for some magic beans.

faceman

5 people as opposed to 1 person is hardly much to write about in fairness. Especially given 10,000 people were looking at the sun.

Kipperhell

I wonder if he can be held liable? If he can be proved to known it could cause damage prior to the event surely he can be. It is hard to believe people didn't know this but I am sure some would have believed him over what a doctor would say.

If he has no eye damage then he didn't look himself

General Zod

faceman wrote: »

5 people as opposed to 1 person is hardly much to write about in fairness. Especially given 10,000 people were looking at the sun.

1 person in 365 days.

5 people in 50 days. That's a very considerable increase.

irish1967

Hmmm.. so you can go blind looking at something unbelievable, stupid, far fetched, which is supposed to increase your faith and perform miracles... would I go deaf listening to Brian Cowen then? :rolleyes:

BennyLava

Jebus made them do it

Owen

Someone should sue Joe for inciting delusional hysteria resulting in sight damage.

Dord

just thinking that... because they were worshipping the sun... wouldnt they be practicing paganism instead? :pac:

Stupid idiots! :P

argonaut

More evidence that venturing into most of Ireland is like crossing the damn Mississippi.

mike65

Why didn't they wear shades? This news won't stop all the day-tripping "believers"

schween

It's on BBC too.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8390184.stm

It's so ridiculous.

azezil

Faith truly is blind. Lets see if Jesus will come down now to make them all better! :pac:

Pace2008

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Brilliant. Darwinism at it's best.

This doesn't make sense as it's not a life-threatening condition, nor does it affect one's ability to reproduce.

irish1967

Isn't page three of the sun supposed to cause blindness too?

Fighting Irish

Hey you guys need to stop, religion is great and god will always be there for you

PirateShampoo

ah theres nothing like staring at the sun to burn out ur retinas

Min

It doesn't matter in regards to religion or eclipses or whatever, it was just stupid fullstop.

The only proper way to look or stare at the sun is through a solar filter.

stovelid

Whadthefuckdya mean, you won't restore my sight Jesus!?

faceman

General Zod wrote: »

1 person in 365 days.

5 people in 50 days. That's a very considerable increase.

Given it was a claimed solar event that 10,000 people attended i still wouldnt consider it a news story

General Zod

faceman wrote: »

Given it was a claimed solar event that 10,000 people attended i still wouldnt consider it a news story

now, I doubt that

a) 10,000 people attended

and
b) all of them stared at the sun long enough to damage their retinas.

5 people in the last 50 days with the same condition caused by the same event.

Why can't God and Mary make their presence known through the good works of others rather than appearing in tree stumps and causing people to stare at the sun.

faceman

General Zod wrote: »

now, I doubt that

a) 10,000 people attended

and
b) all of them stared at the sun long enough to damage their retinas.

5 people in the last 50 days with the same condition caused by the same event.

Why can't God and Mary make their presence known through the good works of others rather than appearing in tree stumps and causing people to stare at the sun.

There was a few trips to Knock for apparitions around the same time over a couple of week and the combined footfall was estimated at 10k.

but i agree, tree stumps and toast is a far safer way to pass the Good Word on.

Turtwig

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Brilliant. Darwinism at it's best.

How is this Darwinism?
It's amazing it's the 150th anniversary of his theory and we're accrediting it to sun worship retinal damage.

ScumLord

I laughed for a good half an hour when I heard this at lunch time. It was a good thing too, I was stuck looking at he back of a truck for 30 minutes when it came on and it just made my day.

faceman wrote: »

Given it was a claimed solar event that 10,000 people attended i still wouldnt consider it a news story

Well these may just be the first and there's probably many who wouldn't go to the doctor and admit their foolish behaviour.

Turtwig

ScumLord wrote: »

Well these may just be the first and there's probably many who wouldn't go to the doctor.

Of course, homeopathy!!
Why didn't I think of that?:rolleyes:

Herbal Deity

what kind of god would make the sun hurt peoples eyes?

AnonoBoy

Malty_T wrote: »

Of course, homeopathy!!
Why didn't I think of that?:rolleyes:

Don't you know a dolphin tear dissolved in a swimming pool and then brushed with a fig leaf that was picked under a full moon will cure anything?

Diabhal Beag

T'was all a hoax by the opticians and eye surgeons.



CONSPIRACY

FlutterinBantam

How the fcuk that gimp who is running this shít hasn't been locked up is beyond me.

Shows me how stupid the fcuking public are.

omahaid

I was just watching the news. There was an eye surgeon on warning people NOT TO LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN. I couldn't believe that in 2009 people need this warning :eek:

Seifer

Pace2008 wrote: »

This doesn't make sense as it's not a life-threatening condition, nor does it affect one's ability to reproduce.

Going blind isn't as life-threatening as it once was but I would definately say it affects the ability to find a partner to reproduce with.

Malty_T wrote: »

How is this Darwinism?
It's amazing it's the 150th anniversary of his theory and we're accrediting it to sun worship retinal damage.

It's Darwinism because the weak of a species i.e. stupid people, are doing something that lessens the chances of their genes being passed on i.e. staring at the sun.

condra

God made an absolute balls of this one. Next time he should just organise a concert.

Pompey Magnus

It seems that nowadays whenever someone manages to feck things up in this county they can always rely on the Catholics to come along and divert the attention by doing something stupider.

Fianna Fail ruins the economy, not to worry though because we have the reports into how the Catholic Church covered up child abuse.

The FAI embarress us on a global stage by begging for a place in the World Cup, not to worry because a load of Catholics show us up by being too thick to realise that staring directly at a 6,000°C ball of radioactive fury may not be the best for the auld retinas.

Hell they even help themselves out, one of their bishops refuses to stand down after his actions as auxiliary bishop of Dublin were described as "inexcusible" in the Murphy Report, not to worry because along comes the tax avoiding priest who described Revenue officials as 'the biggest shower of bastards on the planet'.

If there was a God I'm sure he'd be delighted at who he has representing him down here.

Mars Bar

The irony isn't lost on this one...what a bunch of tools!

mukki

theres a little black spot on the sun today

it's the same old thing as yesterday

Run_to_da_hills

Its a scam run by the Catholic church. Pilgrims get blinded at Knock trying to visualize the Blessed Virgin Mary. They then travel on to Lourdes in the hope of getting healed :rolleyes:.

Any true Church would stop all this nonsense immediatly but there again the Roman Catholic religion is all a bunch of Satanic lies based upon traditions and ridiculous manipulations of the Word of God.

brianthebard

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Brilliant. Darwinism at it's best.

How is it darwinism, since they won't die from it and they can still procreate?

argonaut

brianthebard wrote: »

How is it darwinism, since they won't die from it and they can still procreate?

Because they're evidently morons and therefore likely to walk in front of trains.

Seifer

brianthebard wrote: »

How is it darwinism, since they won't die from it and they can still procreate?

I think someone was down in Knock recently
Look six posts up from yours.

marcsignal

schween wrote: »

It's on BBC too.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8390184.stm

It's we must look so ridiculous.

fyp

*cringes at thought of brits pissing themselves*

Duggy747

/facepalm

Heh heh, they should've worn sunglasses............or is God invisible when ya put 'em on?...............oh wait.

Stare......at.....the......sun...............what is wrong with some people?

baaaa

It's hyper darwinism,these people will get no chance to spread their stupid genes,who would mate with someone who's blind cause they stared at the sun.

GLaDOS

baaaa wrote: »

It's hyper darwinism,these people will get no chance to spread their stupid genes,who would mate with someone who's blind cause they stared at the sun.

Other people who are blind because they stared at the sun for the same stupid reason