Eli5: Why does being exposed to bright light cause your eyes to physically hurt/ache, especially after coming from a lower light area?
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Pain is your body telling your brain “stop that”. The sensitive eye cells are being overloaded, and you should allow more time for the iris in your eye to adjust.
Because your pupils are bigger (open wider) in low light. So when you move to bright light, it’s overwhelming until your pupils close a bit.
Sudden increase in light hitting your retina is like a rush of nerve stimulation that your body interprets at pain. So the brain automatically constricts your pupil within a matter of second to minimize this. Probably some kind of evolutionary advantage to preventing light induced retinal damage, but don’t have a source for that.
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