Using MapAI and MapLab, we tracked incidents of eye injuries after two distinct kinds of solar eclipses occurred — an analysis we were able to do in minutes.
Solar eclipses are exciting events that draw millions of spectators. But as mesmerizing as they are, they also come with serious risks to eye health. Even with widespread public health warnings, many people may still look directly at the sun during an eclipse, potentially resulting in solar retinopathy or retinal burns. A recent study published in Nature noted a spike in Google searches related to eye pain shortly after the last total solar eclipse. With an annular solar eclipse — commonly known as a “ring of fire” eclipse — coming up on October 4, now is a good time to take a closer look at the relationship between eclipses and eye health, if any.
A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon completely covers the sun as it passes, while an annular solar eclipse results when the moon is too far from Earth to fully cover the sun from our vantage point, leaving a visible ring of light around the moon. Using Komodo’s MapView™ solution and our new chat assistant, MapAI™, we looked for spikes in eye injuries after both types of eclipses — one total eclipse in August 2017 and one annular eclipse in October 2023 — in states that experienced the most sun coverage. MapAI’s natural language prompts allowed us to ask simple questions, such as, “Show me the distribution of [eye] injuries by week.” Insights were generated in minutes, not hours, and dashboards provided a clear visualization of the trends. Here’s what we found:
Eye injuries increased after the 2017 total eclipse, but not after the 2023 annular eclipse.
We looked at claims for solar retinopathy, macular degeneration (acute), corneal edema, scotoma, and photokeratitis in states with large cities along the path of totality. There was a marked increase in eye injuries in the week and month following the 2017 eclipse (KS, MO, NE, OR, SC, TN, WY) but no similar rise after the 2023 eclipse (AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, OR, TX, UT). In the week following the 2017 eclipse, the number of patients treated for eye-related injuries rose by 25% (over 100 additional patients) compared to the average of the four weeks prior. Looking at average of the same period in the years before and after the eclipse, 2017 had 16% more cases.
Women and individuals ages 25 to 29 experienced the most significant rise in eye injuries following the 2017 total eclipse.
Across all age groups except for those age 50 to 54, there was an overall increase in eye injuries in the week of the eclipse. The 25-to-29 age group saw the largest surge, with a 211% increase compared to the week before. Notably, women were more likely to be injured than men — rates among women rose by 30% compared to 19% among men.
The next total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous U.S. won’t occur until 2044, though several other types of eclipses will take place before then. As people look to the sky this week for the annular eclipse, it is important that communities continue to emphasize the importance of education around eye protection. This analysis underscores the critical need for educational and media outreach through public health awareness campaigns to help protect against preventable health risks. By harnessing Komodo Health’s robust real-world data and user-friendly tools, we can provide actionable, evidence-backed insights to boost the impact of campaigns, policies, and educational initiatives.
Read an engineer’s perspective on how we built MapAI here.
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