A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION ON THE EYE*

Abstract

An argon gas forced transpiration arc (FTA) was used to produce a high intensity 180 nm to 2.5 u continuous spectrum. Rabbit and primate eyes were exposed to ultraviolet from 210 nm to 320 nm, in 10 nm wavebands, to establish photo-ophthalmia thresholds. Human eyes were exposed at 280 nm to establish a threshold and correlate with the animal research. The UV action spectrum ranged from 210 nm to 320 nm. Both animal thresholds peaked at 270 nm with the rabbit value at 0.054 × 106 ergs/cm2 and the primate at 0.03 × 106 ergs/cm2.