Photosensitivity in dialysis-centres.

[kristina]

My question to the forum is this. Has anyone experience of photosensitivity to ultraviolet light in dialysis-centres? I have been diagnosed with photosensitivity to this type of lighting because of the UV-rays emitted by the light source. The effects produced have been known for many decades. The UV-rays can affect my skin, but they can also act subcutaneously and raise the blood-pressure and also cause great discomfort. The sensitivity fluctuates and I never know how bad it is going to be. With the prospect in the near future of spending quite a few hours every three days in a dialysis-unit probably under fluorescent lighting fills me with horror on this particular aspect alone. If anyone has had similar experiences I would be grateful to know how they handled this situation. I appreciate that in a room without windows or on a dull day the medical staff must have artificial light. How I deal with this I have no idea. Your comments would be gratefully received. Thank you, Kristina.

[Savemeimdtba]

I know some centers are able to turn off certain sets of lights (I remember this from the hospital dialysis unit), maybe ask them if it's possible to turn off the ones above you?  I wish you luck, dialysis is rough enough on it's on without having to worry about something else..

[Rerun]

I'm on the Nocturnal shift and they shut the lights off.  There is just a glow of computer screens and some side lighting.

This may be an  option for you.

[kristina]

Thank you Savemeimdtba and Rerun for your kind suggestions. The reason why I ask this question is not only because the UV-lightrays affect me terribly, but also because this condition is uncommon and not generally catered for, therefore I sometimes feel awkward and uncomfortable asking for help. Thank you, Kristina.

[jbeany]

They will want the lights on while they hook you up, but after that, you can have them turn off the ones above your chair.  (I read instead of watching tv or sleeping, so I spend most of my time badgering them to leave them on, not shut them off.)  Tell them about your condition - there may be other things they can do to help.  One of the units I used to go to had an isolation room, intended for Hep patients.  If your clinic has something similar, they may be able to seat you in there and block off even more light.

[kristina]

Very kind of you to respond and point out further possibilities, ibeany. This is a tricky one for me but I shall do the best I can. Thanks again for your thoughts, very much appreciated. Kind regards from Kristina.

[peleroja]

Recently my eye doctor prescribed prescription sunglasses for me as I am starting to get a cataract and she said it would help slow the progression.  The first day I had them on I walked into the dialysis center and I felt so much better without all that glaring light.  Gonna wear them at the center from now on.

[kristina]

Hi peleroja, good for you! It is always worth trying out things to see if they work for you. I now have sunglasses with bifocal lenses and find them perfect for reading and looking around. I also always wear a wide-brimmed hat. One must not underestimate UV rays and some people's sensitivity to this. At one time I became so sensitive that the street lights affected me at night when my husband was driving down the motorway. We also talked several times to check-out girls in supermarkets when they asked about my sunglasses, and when I explained my photosensitivity to them, they opened up and explained their problems with headages and they had a suspicion their constant headages at work were due to the fluorescent lighting directly above their head. I have not found any true in-depth study on these effects. I only came across a very small mention of the effects of UV-rays from fluorescent light sources in an Encyclopedia Britannica 1939. Because fluorescent lighting has been installed in practically every publicly used building, hospitals, etc., and all the street lights have fluorescent lights, it occurred to me that research into the effects of this lighting would not take place because how would they replace or modify fluorescent lights, this would cost a fortune. All our lighting at home is of the filament type and not fluorescent, plus we have dimmer-switches to every light so we can adjust the lighting to suit us.

[RightSide]

Scientists believe that the main causes of headaches with those overhead long fluorescent tubes is NOT the UV, but the flicker rate.

Electricity in the U.S. for lighting works at 60 Hz (60 cycles per second).  Incandescent filaments stay hot all the time the bulb is lit, so they give out continuous light.  Whereas fluorescent tubes continually refresh themselves at that 60 Hz frequency.  Near the end of their tube life, they start to flicker more and more, and some folks are more sensitive to that flicker than others.  Fixes include replacing all the tubes with new ones, and using high-frequency ballasts.

The reason why sunglasses seem to reduce flicker is not because they filter out UV, but simply because they filter out much of the light, so there isn't enough flickering light to bother you. 

I'm not sensitive to fluorescent flicker at 60 Hz, but I am very sensitive to movie flicker at 24 Hz.  When I'm in a movie theater watching a movie showing a bright scene, the flicker bothers me so much I have to guard my eyes or look away.

[Stoday]

Actually the flicker rate of a tube operating on a 60Hz supply is 120Hz; there's a pulse of light for both the positive and negative half cycles.

It should be much better in the future because the inductive ballasts that control the tubes are being replaced with electronic ballasts. These operate at several thousand Hz so you can't perceive any flicker.

[kristina]

Thank you for your replies and thoughts. Whilst it is true that the flicker of fluorescent lights is a great problem for people who suffer from this type of vulnerability (e.g. epileptics) it is not the flickering which affects me. My problem comes from ultraviolet rays. UV-rays affect people’s skin, and usually that is all it affects, but in my case the rays penetrate the skin and affect the subcutaneous layers and through the blood a systemic effect can occur, this was known to happen over 70 years ago but little advancement has been made to understand the systemic effects, probably because it is so very rare. Thanks again for your kind thoughts.