Eclipse – Light Sensitivity
Light sensitivity is a common symptom of lupus, affecting about 60% of patients. Most people with lupus are able to manage this condition so that it does not interfere with their normal lives.
However, a minority find that no matter what measures they take, they are unable to tolerate even small amounts of exposure to sunlight and artificial lighting which emits UV. For these people light avoidance becomes a way of life which makes their situation very isolated.
This website has been set up to provide information and practical help for people living with severe light sensitivity.
The Eclipse Support Group has been set up to:
Support those with light sensitivity
Produce factsheets
Provide information on light sensitivity issues
Raise awareness that severe light sensitivity is a disabling condition requiring appropriate provision
Enable members to share experiences
Product Information
person with severe light sensitivity should use a high factor sunscreen (SPF 50 or above) outdoors during all seasons, even on an overcast day. It is equally necessary to wear sunscreen indoors under energy saving lights…
A Guide to Artificial Lighting
These are the big bright lamps you (used to) see in grocery stores, street lighting and industrial lighting. These lamps produce a lot of light quite efficiently…
Practical Aids
A simple solution for a see-through mask offering UV protection. (Unfortunately if you need protection against the blue spectrum of visible light it will be necessary to wear an opaque mask which blocks out all light.)…
Travelling Safely by Car
Over the last ten years we have made more and more adaptations to our car. I would like to share with you what we have discovered, which first made the 100 mile journey we had to make to our closest hospital with a photobiology department seem almost like a “day out”…
Members Write
There is always a very positive response to the stories of Eclipse members with people saying that they had felt so isolated, not realising there were others who shared the same predicament…
Eclipse Badges
We are producing these badges with the aim of helping members to explain the nature of their condition and hopefully gain understanding from the strangers they encounter…
Information and Advice
Many of us can only tolerate low lumen light bulbs, with low blue emissions and low or no UV emissions. The situation can be improved by trying the following…
Hospital Provision
In the publication of the Dept. of Health Quarterly Briefing (Volume 19/ Number 2/ Winter 2011) sent to all medical doctors in the UK, there is an article about meeting the needs of light sensitive patients in healthcare settings…
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