UVC causes cancer and cataracts and is blocked by the Earth's atmosphere so almost none reaches the surface. Do NOT shine UVC light on your eyes or skin!
> While UVA radiation is the least hazardous and most associated with skin ageing, UVB is known to cause DNA damage and is a risk factor in developing sunburn, skin cancer, and cataracts. UVC is a “germicidal” radiation with the ability to penetrate deeper, killing bacteria and inactivating viruses.6 There are various types of UVC germicidal lamps—cold cathode germicidal UV lamps, hot cathode germicidal UV lamps, slimline germicidal UV lamps, high output germicidal UV lamps, UV LEDs, and UV lamp shapes with lamp connectors. The latter two are the safest to be used with the utmost precautions.
> This case report describes a vital observation of adverse effects produced by exposure to UV germicidal lamps. There are very few studies reporting accidental exposures to UVC at work in hospital settings. 7 [...]
> Importantly, overexposure to UVC radiation causes ocular and epidermal signs and symptoms. Typical skin reactions in a welder and acute sunburn produced by an electric insect-killing device with an irradiance of as much as 46 mW m-2 have been reported previously in the literature.13, 14 As for germicidal lamps, adverse effects include facial erythema, burning sensation, irritation, pain, keratoconjunctivitis, sunburn, conjunctival redness, blurry vision, photophobia, and irritation to the airway due to the generation of ozone from UVC lamps.
