After returning from a large, exclusive party over the weekend, some Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT owners are complaining about severe eye pain, skin burns, and poor vision potentially caused by powerful UV lights used at the event. Some folks have reported the pain was so bad they had to go to the hospital for treatment.
From November 3 to November 5, Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT owners gathered in Hong Kong for ApeFest, a large party and event that reportedly saw over 2,000 people show up to dance around and pretend the NFT marketplace hasn’t completely cratered in the last 12 months. Only those who owned a BAYC NFT were able to attend the exclusive event. Pictures from the weekend party show a big stage where a concert was held for attendees. But now, many partygoers are dealing with excruciating eye pain potentially caused by UV lights used during the concert.
“Anyone else’s eyes burning from last night? Woke up at 3 a.m. with extreme pain and ended up in the ER,” tweeted Feld4014 on the website formerly known as Twitter. Other people who supposedly attended the ApeFest concert replied voicing similar medical issues.
“I woke up at [4 a.m.] and couldn’t see anymore,” CryptoJune777 replied. “Had so much pain and my whole skin is burned. Needed to go to the hospital. The doctor told me the UV of the lightning [on] the stage did it. It has the same effect as sunlight.”
Photos from the event seem to show powerful, non-RGB LED light bars on stage that could be powerful UV lights. In 2017, a Hong Kong party blinded attendees with UV lights that were designed for medical disinfection purposes. At this moment, UV lights aren’t confirmed to be the cause of the ApeFest injuries.
However, at least one partygoer was reportedly diagnosed with photokeratitis—also known as “Welder’s Eye”—and was prescribed steroid eye drops and lubricants to help treat the condition. So many people have been complaining of eye pain after the event that one Bored Ape owner started a thread with tips on how to treat Welder’s Eye pain.
Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Apes Yacht Club NFT project, told Kotaku that it was “aware of the situation” and is “taking it seriously.” It also said it was directly contacting partygoers who were affected and is investigating what happened to find “the true root cause” of the multiple reports of eye pain and skin burns. The company also posted about the injuries on the official BAYC Twitter account.
“Based on our estimates, the 15 people we’ve been in direct communication with so far represent less than one percent of the approximately 2,250 event attendees and staff at our Saturday night event,” Yuga Labs explained.
When asked how the company will avoid nearly blinding its customers at its next BAYC party, Yuga Labs declined to “speculate” until it had completed its investigation.
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