Bright sun problems

[Bluebottle]

Please forgive my ignorance about this, I'm curious to know more if that is ok.

I know that some medical conditions can cause sensitivity to sunlight and I've come across that with friends and family.
Outside of that I thought that constantly wearing dark glasses increased sensitivity to sunlight and set off a viscous circle - or is that an old wives tale?

[Taipan]

I have an Arai Tour X which is my favourite lid. I have a full black visor in it as I only use it in the summer. Its far too draught, ergo bloody freezing, at this time of year. My winter lid is a Schuberth Concept flip up which has a built in little flick down tinted visor. Neither of these two crash helmets fit under the seat of my current scoot and I dont think either did on my Tmax?

I've always wondered whether the TourX would fit in a Tmax. There must be a decent chance as there is much more room than is required for one normal full face helmet. I can't see the slightest problem fitting a Schuberth Concept in there. I'm pretty sure my Schuberth C2 went in there very easily, and the Arais rattle around in there!

My Tour X (with visor) would not fit under the seat of my MK 1 tMax and I'm pretty sure the Schuberth C1 didnt either.

[MrGrumpy]

My Tour X (with visor) would not fit under the seat of my MK 1 tMax and I'm pretty sure the Schuberth C1 didnt either.

No probs with the Schuberth C2 in the Tmax for me... My Arai with Super-visor fits in easily as well, though the peak is probably sticks out rather less than the Tour-X's, and the Tour-X also has a much longer shell shape, than the normal rounded profile.

[MrGrumpy]

Please forgive my ignorance about this, I'm curious to know more if that is ok.

I know that some medical conditions can cause sensitivity to sunlight and I've come across that with friends and family.
Outside of that I thought that constantly wearing dark glasses increased sensitivity to sunlight and set off a viscous circle - or is that an old wives tale?

Well, many conditions can make you more sensitive light - eg migraines, or having too much to drink the night before! The idea that constantly wearing dark glasses causing problems with light sensitivity strikes me as dubious - though doctors do advise people not to wear shades all the time.

[Data]

Yes indeed Grumpy, you are right. I actually temporarily went blind 7 years ago with a rare eye condition that went undiagnosed for sometime even with regular visits to the opticians. Fortunately, the blindness was temporary thanks to our terrific nhs eye clinic in my area who diagnosed the problem and had me on the operating table within two hours. Had they not done so I would not be writing this now. Although my sight was restored, it has left me with a light sensitivity problem. It has improved slightly since the blindness attack but a standard visor on my Caberg does the job ok. The rods in my eyes were damage slightly along with some other bits that causes the problem. Other than that I'm fine with good vision...thankfully! I don't know for sure if wearing dark shades all the time causes any problems, but I've been told to do so by my eye surgeon as it protects the retina and optic nerve from freaking out so I would guess not.

[Bluebottle]

Bloody hell, that must have been scary.

[Data]

Yeah Bluebottle, it was! I woke up one morning, jimjams intact, got out of bed and although it was a bright sunny morning and I was expecting to jump on my GSX1400 and go to work (pre-scooter enlightenment) the room started going darker and darker. At first I didn't realise it was my eyes at fault. It was as though a huge space ship had come down and was hovering over my house blotting out the sun, you know the sort of thing. Happens regularly!! But then I realised everthing in the house was completely black too. My vision just kept going darker and darker until I just couldn't see anything at all. In total it took just one minute for my eyesight to completely disappear. My wife had gone to work and I was alone in the house still in my jimjams. I stumbled around shakily wondering what the hell to do. Picked up the phone only to realise I couldn't dial anyone. Then after sitting calmly contemplating for a few minutes a tiny amount of vision in one eye returned. I could just make out the numbers on the phone pad if I took my time so I called my optician (pre-programed in the phone thank god!) for an emergency appointment and NOT the ambulance service. Had I called the ambulance service I may well have lost my sight for ever. Instead I confirmed an appointment at the opticians and they called a taxi for me to get me to them. I was checked out and then refered straight to the appropriate eye surgeon at the eye clinic as an emergency. Amazingly, the surgical team were waiting for me. It would almost certainly have taken longer to execute the whole process if I'd gone to a general accident and emergency dept and I would have had a signicant delay in then getting to the specialist at the eye clinic across town even by ambulance. And time was of the essence and nearly always is when dealing with eyes. You don't hang about as eyes damage incredibly easily. My optician always said that unless you have a steel spike sticking in your eye, then don't call the doctor or go to A&E but always call the opticians for the proper referral to take place as it speeds up the whole process. But I guess that only applies if your optician is nearby and I don't know if that still applies, and it may differ from area to area but it worked for me. After my sight was properly restored I had very little night vision and bright light was very painful. But that has largely repaired itself now. The eye surgeon who operated told me I would have lost my eyesight if I had gone to A&E as they can't move fast enough in cases like mine. Anyhoo, just goes to show we have a brilliant nhs inspite of the moans we hear about. Just have to protect the eyes against very bright light now but sight is normal in every other respect.