What to know about potential eye damage from a solar eclipse

Experts say individuals who experience headaches, soreness, pain or blurred vision after the incident should see an ophthalmologist.

Millions of persons are believed to have watched the solar eclipse across North America on Monday, but some may not have watched it accurately.

The experts said Washington Post. in order that those that viewed the solar eclipse wearing appropriate glasses and following safety measures may very well be assured that they didn’t suffer any serious visual damage.

However, anyone who experiences headaches, soreness, pain or blurred vision after the incident should see an ophthalmologist.

Clinical professor Carl Jacobsen of the University of California, Berkeley School of Optometry noted that some discomfort may naturally result from your eyes drying out after focusing and observing the eclipse for an prolonged time frame. This problem may be alleviated by utilizing moisturizing eye drops. However, ophthalmologist Seth Laster said that blurred vision or gray spots that do not go away could indicate damage to the retina.

Laster noted that solar retinopathy, which is damage to the retinas attributable to taking a look at intense light corresponding to the sun or a laser pointer, can permanently impair vision but shouldn’t be at all times painful. According to experts, the damage shouldn’t be at all times visible immediately and will take hours or days after sun exposure.

“Looking at the sun often feels like getting a sunburn,” said optometrist Tamara Oechslin, according to The Post. “You don’t notice the worst damage until an hour or two later.”

Jacobsen said the important factor to consider is how long symptoms last, noting that it’s value seeing an ophthalmologist if problems persist after using eye drops or when you still see blurred shapes after closing your eyes.

According to Peopleone woman who directly observed the 2017 solar eclipse recalled the everlasting vision damage she suffered, which she only realized was a problem the following day.

“I watched the solar eclipse six and a half years ago,” an unnamed woman shared in a video on Monday. “I didn’t realize, or I just didn’t bring my glasses and thought it wouldn’t be a big deal, so I closed my right eye and stared at the sun for a good 15 seconds or so. “

The woman said she didn’t think much of it at the time, but when she woke up the next morning she noticed she couldn’t “read every other word” while looking through text messages on her phone.

She said she realized there was a “blind spot” in every word and noticed she “didn’t see any things” as she walked around the house.

Research on sun damage caused by looking at the sun led her to visit an ophthalmologist, where she later learned that the experience of viewing eclipses had damaged her eyesight.

She described parts of her eye as “distorted” and described her vision as “slow 20/20 vision.”

According to The Post, it is never safe to look directly at the sun with the naked eye because the sun’s rays can damage the eye’s photoreceptors and cause blindness or impaired vision. The American Astronomical Society also notes that looking at the sun through a camera, telescope or binoculars is dangerous.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, “even a few seconds of looking at the sun during an eclipse can temporarily or permanently burn the macula,” which refers to part of the retina, People magazine reports.

“When retinal tissue is damaged, it cannot regenerate, resulting in permanent loss of central vision.”

!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||(),g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){ g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“has-recommended-video”,”true”)})}();var _bp=_bp||();_bp.push({“div”:”Brid_21904″, “obj”:{“id”:”41122″,”width”:”1280″,”height”:”720″,”stickyDirection”:”below”,”playlist”:”21904″,”slide_inposition”:” .widget_tpd_ad_widget_sticky”}});

Featured Stories

The post What to Know About Potential Eye Damage from a Solar Eclipse appeared first on TheGrio.