..........As such a miracle of God would be consistent and show no favourites as the miracle of the SUn at fatima was visible to all..yet it seems at MEDJUGORJE some have damaged their eyesight ..since GOd by his nature is the first active principle it follows what emanates from him is most actual and most perfect....so a miracle of God would be consistent at all times to all people by nature of its source..yet at MEDJUGORJE some claim to witness a miraculous occurrence yet some come home permanently disabled as a result of curiosity and pride as if the good Bishop at MEDJUGORJE hasn't warned us ahead of time....and so it is safe to say one encounters no miracle of the sun here since God being the benevolent spirit that he is would never unjustly harm us through a phenomenon besides-nature even though he does will the punishment of the wicked and the salvation of the just..yet indeed the devil would seek to trick us and by so doing occaision the falling away of the intellect from rational religion...
Reblogged from an original article by Mary Ann Button O.D.....
MEDJUGORJE MACULOPATHY
Medjugorje
Maculopathy
Reproduced
with permission from the New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 318, Issue 18,
May 1988, pg. 1207. Correspondence.
To the editor: In June 1981, six teenagers reported seeing apparitions of the Virgin
Mary on a hillside in Medjugorje, Yugoslavia, a tiny farming village. These
young children received messages of peace daily as they stared at a hilltop in
the direction of the setting sun.
Today pilgrims by the thousands visit Medjugorje to seek the experience of the original apparition by gazing into the sun for periods of up to 45 minutes for several days in succession. Their intent is to re-create the "miracle of the sun," an apparitional experince in which unusual religious artifacts or clues can be superimposed on the sun.
The common belief persists that staring into the sun is harmless. We report on two patients who had central vision loss within several days of sungazing at Medjugorje.
A 35-year-old woman looked directly into the sun for 25 minutes during a recent trip to Medjugorje. On the flight home 36 hours later, she reported brow ache and a central scotoma. She was examined 72 hours after exposure and found to have 20/70 vision in the involved left eye, which had a yellowish central foveal exudate. A routine fundus examination one year before had been unremarkable; visual acuity in each eye was 20/20. Fluorescein angiography was negative, but visual fields showed a two-degree central scotoma. Three months after the inital examination, the woman's vision had improved to 20/30, but the central scotoma persisted.
A 42-year-old woman was similarly exposed to the sun for three days for 25 minutes at a time. She experienced an immediate central scotoma and blurred vision that worsened during the next three days. She had normal vision and a normal fundus examination two years earlier. Four days after exposure, an eye examination revealed vision of 20/200 in each eye (legal blindness) and bilateral yellowish-white, oval foveal exudates. Fluorescein angiography was normal. Four months later, her vision had returned to only 20/50, and a dense central scotoma with a reddish, 50 micrometer central foveal depression persisted.
Solar Retinopathy refers to specific foveolar lesions that are reported to occur in certain persons after they view an eclipse or gaze directly at the sun. Persons affected include sunbathers (1), lookouts (2), malingerers (3), patients with schizophrenia (4), participants in religious rituals (5), and people under the influence of drugs, particularly LSD (6). There is a marked and unexplained individual susceptibility. The recent popularity of the Medjugorje pilgrimage has prompted us to alert the medical community to discourage this potentially blinding activity.
Randy V. Campo M.D.
Jack O. Sipperley, M.D.
Gary Hall, M.D.
J. Alan Rappazzo, M.D.
St. Luke's Hospital, Phoenix, AZ 85006
1. Gladstone GJ, Tasman W. Solar retinitis after minimal exposure. Arch Ophthalmol 1978; 96:1368-9.
2. Cordes FC. Eclipse retinitis. Am J Ophtalmol 1948; 31:101-3.
3. Ritchey CL, Ewald RA. Sun gazing as the cause of foveomacular retinitis. Am J Ophthalmol 1970; 70:491-7.
4. Anaclerio AM, Wicker HS. Self-induced solar retinopathy by patients in a psychiatric hospital. Am J Ophtalmol 1970; 69:731-6.
5. Agarwal LP, Malik SRK. Solar Retinits. Br. J Ophthalmol 1959; 43:366-70.
6. Schatz H, Mendelblatt F. Solar retinopathy from sun-gazing under the influence of LSD. Br J Ophthalmol 1973; 57:270-3.
Medjugorje Maculopathy
The above link takes you to the PubMed citation.
**The Original article, "Medjugorje Maculopathy," can be obtained, for a small fee (around $12) from either theOregon Health Sciences University Library, or from theNew England Journal of Medicine. The latter charges a fee of $10 to $12. NEJM can be reached at 1-800-843-6356 (US) and 781-893-3800 ext 6094 (Abroad). NEJM will need your: * Name, full mailing address * Telephone number * Fax number * E-mail address * Credit card number and expiration date * Payment amount * Article Title, Volume Number, Issue Date and Pages * If you would like the article faxed, mailed or e-mailed
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See related blog articles,Solar Retinopathy from Sungazing in Medjugorje, et. al.
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GLOSSARY by Mary Ann Button, O.D.
Choroid- A network of blood vessels beneath the retina. The choroid feeds the eye with nutrients.
Fluorescein Angiography- A procedure where dye is injected into the blood. A camera shines light into the eye. The dye highlights problem spots, such as areas of fluid leakage.
Fovea- The most important part of the macula. This region lies at the anatomical center of the macula. The fovea forms an inward dimple in the retina. This dimple is responsible for viewing fine details. You can't have 20/20 vision without a fovea.
Fundus- This term refers to the tissues inside the eye, particularly in reference to the tissues behind the crystalline lens: the vitreous, retina, retinal pigment epithelium, Choriocapillaris, choroid and sclera. A "fundus examination" refers to an examination that encompasses all of these structures, viewing them from the inside of the eye with special instruments.
How the eyes work- Light first enters the eyes through the cornea (a clear lens), through the iris pupil (an aperture, or hole that changes sizes), through the crystalline lens (another clear lens responsible for fine-focusing), through the clear vitreous. Light focuses onto the retina. Pigments in the retina detect an image. This generates an electrical signal, which is sent to the brain through a living electrical wire called the optic nerve. The brain receives the signal and interprets the message, much like a computer.
Macula- The most important part of the retina. This area is designed for sensing small objects, and therefore, a good macula is vital in having good visual acuity. You cannot have 20/20 vision without a macula.
Macular hole- Damage to the macula can cause some of the retinal layers within the macula to disintegrate. There are different degrees of macular holes. The worst kind of hole is a full-thickness macular hole, where all the layers of the macula have disintegrated.
Retina- The light-sensing tissue that lines the inside of your eyes. It is composed of many sub-layers. It is very delicate.
Scotoma- A fancy term meaning "blind spot." Everyone who has two functioning eyes has two natural blind spots, where the optic nerves enter each eye. There is no retina above the optic nerve entrance, so, this is a blind spot. Your eyes overlap in the middle, compensating for these natural blind spots. Damage to the retina, as seen after sungazing, can cause a blind spot. Another way to think of your field of vision (the area of vision you possess right, left, up and down) is like Mount St. Helens before it blew up on May 18, 1980. The height of the mountain represents the ability of your retina to sense details. The summit of Mt. St. Helens represents your macula. The bottom of Mt. St. Helens represents the retina on the very edge of your eyeball. The mid-summit height is the retina in-between. Say you go on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje and stare at the sun. Boom! Mt. St. Helens erupts, blowing its top. Now, your macula represents the new summit of the post-erupted Mt. Helens, lower in height and damaged. The area where the summit of Mt. St. Helens used to beis the scotoma caused by your sungazing activity
....amen
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