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UV-C light and exposure to your eyes and body. Is it safe?

A question was posed to me recently on the effects of UV-C light exposure to your eyes.  Here is my response

“Yes, UV-C is harmful to your eyes.  If you come in contact with it for short periods of time, you may get a “sunburn” and your eyes will feel like they are swollen and puffy, itchy, and it is very uncomfortable.  This will go away after a period of time, but extended or repeat exposure to UV-C lights are harmful.  Every precaution must be made to make sure the lamps are turned off before any servicing is done.  If used in schools or other places other than a home, it is advisable to post a sign noting UV-C exposure is harmful and to remove power before servicing.  Another option would be to rig a safety switch to the access door, say, of an air handler unit that uses UV-C and when the door is opened, the lights will automatically be powered down.  Bottom line is that a short glance of the UV-C light will do no harm to your eyes, but one must make sure that it does not happen if possible.”

When changing your lamps in your home, you need to first remove power to the unit first to avoid any accidental occurence of viewing the UV-C light.  While it may not be fatal, it certainly be uncomfortable while your eyes are healing.

This entry was posted on January 23, 2007 at 8:23 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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7 Responses to “UV-C light and exposure to your eyes and body. Is it safe?”

  1. jurajjakabovic says:
    February 13, 2007 at 5:45 am

    hi,

    I would like to ask about possible threats to our organism, specially to eyes and skind, maybe other, if being exposed to UVC germicide lamp for 1 hour . watching with unprotected eyes, without many clothes….. It has ben neglectance of the personnel in a artificial salt cave.. we did not know about it…
    the painful phase is over, skin pls of but we are worrid for eyes in the longterm and maybe some internal organs, or skin problems.

    Thank You very much

    Juraj

  2. Bigdog says:
    February 13, 2007 at 11:36 pm

    There is a lot of information on the web about this. Exposure to UV-C light will generally heal. Exposure to the eyes over an extended period can be harmful, so it must be avoided. On the skin, it is like a bad sunburn. Not too sure on internal organs. Internet could answer this for you.

  3. jurajjakabovic says:
    February 14, 2007 at 4:13 am

    Hi Bigdog,

    Zes thats what I thought, but unfortunatelly I ve found only your article concerning UVC…

    If you had some links it d be helpfull.

    thanks

    Juraj

  4. Bigdog says:
    February 16, 2007 at 10:33 am

    I will see what I can find, and post if I can get any links for you.

    Bigdog

  5. Doug says:
    February 16, 2007 at 5:13 pm

    UVC is almost never observed in nature because it is absorbed completely in the atmosphere, as are Far UV and Vacuum UV. Germicidal lamps are designed to emit UVC radiation because of its ability to kill bacteria. In humans, UVC is absorbed in the outer dead layers of the epidermis. Accidental overexposure to UVC can cause corneal burns, commonly termed welders’ flash, and snow blindness, a severe sunburn to the face. While UVC injury usually clears up in a day or two, it can be extremely painful.

    Source: http://www.hps.org/hpspublications/articles/uv.html

    I’ll also ad that I’ve been over-exposed twice, once for about 60 seconds and once for about 15 seconds. The first time I did get flash burn and had to wear sun glasses for a couple days. The second time I just had dis-comfort for a few hours. When you’re exposed you don’t feel it for about 8 or 10 hours, just like the sunburn you get on the beach, you don’t feel it until much later. I’ve had annual eye tests and no damage to the eyes, just temporary damage when it happened. I work with UV germicidal light daily so exposure is always possible in my field. No known cases have ever been permanent, just temporary discomfort. It’s the same damage you get from welders flash, as the article states.

  6. jurajjakabovic says:
    March 20, 2007 at 11:53 am

    Hi Bigdog… thank You for the information..

    since U work with the stuff.. did I mention us being exposed for 1 hour?

    what do U think?

    most problems arewith eyes, itchy, dry… we are working with PC a lot.. and its not very helpfull…

    thanks

    Juraj

  7. Bigdog says:
    March 20, 2007 at 4:53 pm

    As Doug mentioned in the article above, it is temporary. You need to attempt to protect yourself from UV-C light, as it will continue to give you discomfort as long as you come in contact with it. Not sure of the continued contact of UV-C over a long period of time on your health. I am not an expert in this particular area.

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