What Caused the Outbreak of Mysterious Eye Injuries at a Recent Trump Rally? An Expert Weighs In

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What Caused the Outbreak of Mysterious Eye Injuries at a Recent Trump Rally? An Expert Weighs In

Several attendees who stood on stage with Donald Trump at a Tucson rally suffered temporary blindness and severe pain afterwards

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Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Tucson, Ariz.

Several people who stood on stage with Donald Trump at his Tucson, Ariz., rally reported eye injuries after the event, saying they suffered pain and temporary blindness

Although he said he’d really need to examine the patients to be sure, Dr. Jules Winokur, residency program director and vice chair of ophthalmology for Northwell Health, told PEOPLE their injuries could have resulted from inadvertent chemical exposure or UV light toxicity

He said either could explain the painful, but temporary, symptoms

Several attendees who stood on stage with

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at a recent rally in Tucson, Ariz., reported

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following the Sept. 12 event, saying they had burning pain and temporary blindness immediately afterward.

Some attendees who sat on the left of the stage sought medical care afterward,

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.

“I can’t see anything when I try to open my eyes. I see a bright light. It hurts, it hurts a lot to open my eyes. I have this cold cloth I put on and take off constantly. It’s horrible,” Mayra Rodriguez told the outlet.

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Attendees who stood to Donald Trump’s right at his Tucson rally reported eye pain following the event.

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Other reported symptoms were flushed faces and runny noses — but everyone experienced the same, painful eye symptoms.

What could have caused this temporary — but painful — condition?

Dr. Jules Winokur, residency program director and vice chair of ophthalmology for Northwell Health, tells PEOPLE that the symptoms point to either inadvertent chemical exposure, or UV light toxicity.

“There’s no way I could know, based on the reports, what’s going on,” cautioned Winokur, who added, “We need to examine people to see what’s going on.”

But since the symptoms, while painful, were temporary, he theorized that “there may have been a chemical, because that can irritate the eye.”

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!

“Alcohol-based products are often used in cleaning and alcohol is somewhat toxic to the eye. There may have been cleaning products that were used heavily in that area [that] then transferred to their hands, and they rubbed their eyes and introduced something.”

“Really hard to say, but it could have been some sort of chemical exposure,” Winokur told PEOPLE. And chemical exposure, he said, “Goes away, it gets better, and people heal.”

“The other possibility is something called UV toxicity,” which, he explains, is a condition that occurs when too much ultraviolet exposure causes inflammation on the surface of the eye—a potential hazard if UV lights were used at the venue.

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Stock image of a bright UV light; Stock image of a bucket of cleaning supplies.

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It’s colloquially known as

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Winokur explained. “The sunlight reflects off the snow and if you’re not wearing any kind of UV protection, you’re getting an overload of UV. And that actually causes significant pain and discomfort.”

He compared it to the pain welders can experience if they don’t wear a protective UV mask.

“If they’re welding without it, they often experience severe pain, with vision problems [and their] eyes running.”

As for suggestions that it could have been a chemical exposure from the air vents, Winokur said that the small, concentrated group of attendees doesn’t support that theory.

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“These were clustered in a certain section — it wasn’t like everyone in the arena had something,” he said. “It just doesn’t make a lot of sense that one vent was toxic and just happened to ***** air on just these people.”

As Winokur explained, “The air handling is so large and so big,” in places like the

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, which has a capacity of more than 2000 people.

A third possibility could have been someone shining a laser pointer at the attendees, which he said “could actually ***** the inside of your eye.” But he added, “that would cause a permanent vision loss” — and the attendees have reported their symptoms are improving.

“The fact that they’re getting better is an excellent sign,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll make a full recovery.”

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