I was watching the Chile Miners Rescue Operation on TV last night. One thing which i saw that all the miners who were rescued, were supposed to wear black glasses & the reason said was miners did not see the sunlight since two months therefore if after stepping on the surface, they see the sunlight with bare eyes then there eyesight could had been damaged which may even lead to blindness.

Can any body explain how the sunlight would have damaged their eyesight ? what effect the eyes had after not coming in direct contact with the sunlight in two months ?

According to " telegraph.co.uk "

The miners will emerge wearing the sunglasses, donated by the American company, Oakley, which will provide 100 per cent protection from ultraviolet light. Medics have warned of damage to the miners' retinas when they reach daylight after so long underground.

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Death solves all problems, No man, no problem - Joseph Stalin

we are daily coming in contact with direct sunlight then why that part of uv light, which is damaging the miners who see the light after some time, is not harming us ? If that part of uv light is that much harmful then it should affect us also ?

What could be the difference between ours retina & of those (miners) who see the light after two months ? How does retina behaves if it doesn´t see the uv light for sometime ?

what´s so special in uv light that it is a must see for humans otherwise a contact with the uv light after some time may lead to eye damage or blindness ? Does it also apply to the animals as well ? There are some animals who do not come out in day time and i remember a snake (about which I saw on National Geographic) that it hunts or remain on surface for 6 months and the other 6 months it remains underground.

one more thing why Ultraviolet light ?