March 11, 2004
PUTTING THE EYE IN IDITAROD
Under the heading of What The ****!?!?:
Anchorage, AK – Wednesday, March 10, 2004 – Four time Iditarod Champion, Doug Swingley, officially scratched at 9:35 a.m. today in Takotna.
Swingley indicated he may have “frozen his corneas” while on the trail near Rohn and has been having difficulty with his vision since that time. Teams had been battling temperatures ranging from 25 to 35 degrees below zero, combined with winds of 35 to 40 miles per hour.
Swingley hopes to be able to return to Anchorage tonight to consult an eye specialist to assess whether or not he has suffered any permanent damage.
This is a guy who has won the 1,100-mile race four times, setting time records in a few of those wins. This is not an inexperienced musher.
Makes you wonder what the rookies in the race are going through this year.
(For the record, the latest results show that four-time winner Martin Buser and Mitch Seavey are jostling for the lead, about halfway through the race.)
But back to frozen eyeballs...
Charles, a friend I knew in Anchorage who now lives in Juneau, sends this note:
I've had frozen corneas when I lived in Barrow and Fairbanks and believe me, it's not fun.Posted by Jeff at March 11, 2004 06:14 AM | TrackBack
What happens is the frost catches on your eyelashes and melts from your body heat. Then the moisture gets on your eyes and the wind will freeze it. It's even worse if you were wearing contact lenses at the time. I was basically blind in my right eye for a couple of days after my last minor case (I'd been riding on a snowmachine with someone and didn't have goggles). And it has caused some permanent damage (my eyes don't adjust to brightness as fast as they used to and they're slower in focussing), although I can wear my contacts again.
I guess Swingley's problem was intensified because he had Lasik eye surgery two years ago. There have been other cases of extreme weather and altitude causing problems with people who have had Lasik surgery. If I remember correctly, one of the climbers mentioned in Jon Krakauer's book "Into Thin Air" went blind during the storm on Everest because he'd recently had Lasik surgery.
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