Last June, 28-year-old British climber Peter Kinloch achieved his lifelong goal of summiting Mount Everest. But on the descent, something went wrong. Kinloch began stumbling and slipping, went blind, and could not continue down the mountain. Medicating and oxygenating him proved unsuccessful, and with the weather worsening, the Sherpas guiding Kinloch had to leave him to die at 8,600 meters.
Mountaineers often report compromised vision at high altitudes where oxygen is scarce, and this problem can occur in concert with a suite of other symptoms that spell real trouble for someone traversing precarious trails thousands of meters up jagged peaks. But the link between hypoxic conditions, acute mountain sickness (AMS), and vision is poorly understood.
According to ophthalmologist Gabriel Willmann, if changes in the eye are linked to AMS—symptoms of which are nausea, headaches, fatigue, and dizziness—it may be possible to develop a diagnostic test that could save the lives ...
