Eye problems after COVID-19 can now be explained

Very well-aligned to ME it seems.

• Aversion to light
• Blurred vision
• More frequent headaches
• Burning/Stinging sensations

My devices are set at reduce white point to 85% during normal times and 95% during crashes. With brightness set to as low as it will go. My curtains have been closed for over a year. Eye masks, sunglasses, and welding goggles all hang within arms reach.

I’m basically a vampire without the stereotypical leather outfits and claret juice.

One of the advanced tests involved proteomics, where a variety of proteins in the tear fluid are analysed. In those with eye problems, the researchers found an abnormal pattern of proteins regulating nerves and immune cells, so-called T cells. The findings were consistent with advanced eye microscopy that they used to measure the T cells and nerves in the eye. Strikingly, the same protein pattern has been found in blood and tissue in cases of severe and fatal COVID in other studies.

“Our findings suggest that these people have suffered a severe reaction to COVID-19 manifested in the eyes, with long-term inflammation and an impact on the nerves that control multiple eye functions,” says Petros Moustardas, senior research associate at Linköping University and lead author of the study, who performed the proteomics analyses.

Many of those affected became highly sensitive to light. The researchers can now provide an explanation: their pupils let too much light into the eye. The impaired pupil function was furthermore linked to headaches, difficulty reading text and in focusing the eyes.

» EurekAlert! →