According to Instagram, guests at the Hypebeast “Club Sorayama” pop-up party in Hong Kong last Friday night had a great time with robot pole dancers under the glow of pink neon lights. But in the days following, many of them claimed to have “painful burns,” “peeling skin,” and “eye injuries,” as reported by the local newspaper, Apple Daily, and then WWD.
Turns out the neon lighting at the party was actually that used for “disinfectant purposes,” and therefore heavy on the UV radiation. The resulting condition for those exposed to such lighting is one called “photokeratitis,” which a Wikipedia post on the subject describes as being “akin to a sunburn of the cornea and conjunctiva.” Yikes!
“I woke up at 3 a.m. basically four hours after the event with extreme pain in my eyes,” James Acey, who DJed at the event for three hours, told WWD. “I couldn’t really see or open my eyes for too long. My eyes were watering. I was just confused and [later] I heard that other people were sunburnt from the party.” Acey added that he’s concerned he’ll have long-term vision damage.
“The case is now under investigation by the insurance company and we are not in a position at the moment to draw conclusions about what happened,” Hypebeast told WWD in a statement. In the meantime, they’ve “urged” guests so seek medical advice.
The event, which took place inside the Landmark Mall, was a celebration of the website’s clothing collaboration with Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama, who is known for his images of sexy female robots.
We’ll take this as a warning: Hypebeast parties might be bad for your health.
