The eclipse leaves more than a thousand medical attentions in 48 hours: most for eye discomfort and without serious cases

More than a thousand people have needed assistance or consulted health services during the first 48 hours after the total solar eclipse. Most did so due to eye discomfort, although dizziness, heatstroke, minor contusions, and calls to resolve doubts were also registered.

The data is striking, but the provisional balance does not point to a health emergency or a high number of serious injuries. Communities are counting incidents differently, mixing medical check-ups, telephone consultations, and patients who went to emergency rooms as a precaution. Canarias has not yet provided its figures.

Madrid concentrates the highest number, with 340 attentions until nine in the morning this Friday. Catalonia has registered 153 assistances, 72 of them ophthalmological, while the Valencian Community has reported 147 consultations directly related to the eyes.

Euskadi has attended to 129 people with mild symptoms and its health services have not detected serious injuries attributable to the eclipse. Andalusia adds 44 ophthalmological consultations and Murcia another 32, without hospital admissions, surgical interventions, or particularly serious conditions in either territory.

Baleares and La Rioja have registered about twenty cases each. In La Rioja, four patients did present injuries compatible with solar exposure. Galicia, Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Navarra, Extremadura, and Aragón complete the balance with considerably lower figures.

Symptoms can appear with delay

Specialists maintain vigilance because the damage caused by looking directly at the Sun can take several hours or even days to manifest. The retina lacks pain receptors, so a person can suffer an injury during exposure without feeling any immediate discomfort.

Blurred vision, the appearance of a dark spot in the center of the visual field, image distortion, changes in color perception, or abnormal sensitivity to light are some of the symptoms associated with solar retinopathy. Any alteration of vision after having observed the eclipse requires a medical evaluation, even if more than 48 hours have passed.