When you’re outside in cold weather, you can bundle up with plenty of clothing to stay warm. But what about the parts of you that are left exposed, such as your eyes? One woman who races sled dogs in Alaska discovered that your eyes can get frostbite.
Alaska Dispatch News reports,
A musher in the Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race scratched after suffering what may be frostbite on her eyeball, race officials said Saturday.
Brenda Mackey, one of four Mackeys in the race, reported at the Kalskag checkpoint that she had frostbite on her eye, race manager Zach Fansler said.
Mackey arrived there at 5:38 a.m. Saturday, according to her GPS tracker. Temperatures overnight were in the low single digits with winds gusting at 45 mph in Bethel.
“They took her immediately to the clinic,” Fansler said. Health aides consulted with eye specialists in Bethel and Anchorage and decided she needed to be flown quickly to Anchorage, he said.
She may need surgery, Fansler said.
Hopefully her eye is not permanently damaged. Was she wearing goggles? Maybe there are professional goggles that will keep her eyes warmer next time.