Maurice F. Rabb » Arc Welding Retinopathy

Dr. Jack O. Sipperley has accumulated four cases of Arc-Welding Retinopathy and has completed one phase of a research project on rabbits and monkeys with arc-welding induced retinal burns.

Clinical Case:
2/23/83 42 year old male: exposed to an
art-welding flash in his right eye.
Noted "spot" in right visual field.

2/25/83 Evaluated by Dwight Hayden, M.D.,
San Luis Obispo Vision O.D. 20/30;
O.S. - 20/20. Small epithelial
defect with staining just temporal
to visual axis in the right cornea.
Small area of edema in right
perifovea.
3/1/83 Scotoma smaller; Micropsia
Vision O.D. - 20/25; O.S. -
20/20. Smaller area macular edema in
perifovea O.D.

3/11/83 Vision O.D. 20/40 +2

4/8/83 Vision O.D. 20/25-1; Macular edema
subsided.

10/31/84 Exposed to a second arc-welding flash
to the right eye. Blurred vision and
micropsia noted.

2/12/85 Examined by Steven Johnson, M.D.,
San Luis Obispo. Vision O.D. 20/40
+2; O.S. - 20/20 -2. In right eye,
nasal perifovea shows small yellow
RPE defect and Amsler Grid
demonstrated small relative
scotoma temporal to fixation.

2/13/85 Color photos and fluorescein
angiogeram obtained of right eye,
which show a small pigment
epithelium defect in the nasal
perifovea.