sunburned eyes?

[jake1111]

While driving in a convertible for an hour or so, I noticed that the sun was beating down between my sunglasses and my brow. I have not had any pain, or bloodshot eyes, but I have felt a bit dry and teary. How easy is it to sunburn the retina? What is the prognosis for this type of exposure typically? Always worried about permanent damage.

Thanks.

[Ninnik]

Hello Doctor,
I am 22 now and has got short sightedness, even the shape of my eye ball has changed over the years according to my observation(bulged to the front). Glasses found its way onto my face when i was 9, and now the power has climbed over 7 in the right eye and 7.5 in the left. There is some cylinder too. The thing is now i feel like my eyes are getting weak and that it takes a while for me to focus at things, and the worst of all i cant see at night which has affected a part of my life. I cant drive around at night as my sales career calls for it.
I dont mind keeping glasses on throughout my life if atleast something can be done with improving the night vision.
From the many eye doctors i consulted all they could say regarding the night vision was due to the shortsightedness and the shape of my eyeball and also my optic nerves getting weak, and they never gave any further look into it.
You can definitely help me out on this.
waiting for your reply

[jake1111]

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your work on this forum. I realize it must take an incredible amount of your time judging simply by the number of posts you have. You routinely provide balanced thoughtful answers that tend to take the edge off of my worries when the issue is apparently not too terrible, but my lack of knowledge in the subject makes me unsure of how bad something may be....

Anyway, Thank you for your effort.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

You won't hurt the retina but could damage the cornea.  Wear a hat and sunglasses.  And don't drive too fast.
JCH MD