How do you know if you've damaged your eyes looking at the eclipse?
Total solar eclipses are like nature's summer blockbusters, showcasing the unique coincidence where the moon is just the right distance away to completely cover the sun. This only really happens on Earth, and it's the event that future alien space tourists will be visiting us to see. They'll have to be careful, though. No matter what their buggy compound eyes are made from, playing peekaboo with the nuclear space furnace is dangerous. So, if you're wondering how much does an eclipse hurt your eyes, the answer is: a lot.
The risks of staring at an eclipse
The sun is a mass of superheated gas (actually, it's more of a miasma of superheated plasma), burning at millions of degrees. Because of that, it casts a lot of light at an intensity strong enough to damage your eyes.
How does an eclipse hurt your eyes?
To understand how this damage happens, imagine your eyes are like little squishy cameras. Light goes in through the front and gets focused on the retina at the back of the eye. Did you ever use a magnifying glass to burn things as a kid (leaves and paper, of course, not ants)? It's like that.
Staring at the sun is like passing solar radiation through the magnifying glass of your lenses and focusing it onto your delicate retinas. Sunburn is bad enough when it's on your neck, but imagine it happening inside your eyes. Sadly, nobody's invented sunscreen for your retinas yet.
Signs you may have eye damage from viewing an eclipse
You can get a damaging dose of sunlight during the seconds immediately before and after an eclipse. If this happens, you might get away with spotty vision for a few seconds, followed by recovery. Look longer, and you could do more damage. Here's how to tell if the damage is more serious.
Immediate symptoms
Damage to the retina is kind of like the symptoms of whiplash you get from a car crash. They may take days or weeks to show. You can get blurry vision, sensitivity to light, and/or impaired color vision (which is even less fun than it sounds).
Delayed effects
Over the long term, looking at the sun can cause permanent damage. If you, for some reason, stare at the sun, you could wind up with permanent vision loss. You may develop a blind spot corresponding to the damaged part of your retina where the cells have been completely destroyed.
Seeking medical attention
If you've looked right at an eclipse and are showing signs of eye damage, it's not something to laugh off or to take lightly (get it, LIGHTly? We'll show ourselves out.) Instead of waiting for things to improve on their own, you need to book an appointment with an eye care professional. Only a professional can properly assess what damage, if any, has been done to your eyes and whether you need treatment.
What are your treatment options?
Honestly, you really don't have treatment options for solar retinopathy. Sometimes things will get better if you can get through a few months with the symptoms, sometimes not. Will you go blind if you stare at an eclipse? Probably not, but whatever damage remains after about six months could be permanent.
Preventing eye damage from viewing an eclipse
It's pretty clear that prevention is better than cure for solar retinopathy. Here's what you need to know about preventing damage.
Solar viewing techniques
The safest way to view a solar eclipse is through solar viewing glasses or a handheld solar viewer. These filter out harmful ultraviolet and infrared radiation, protecting your eyes from damage.
If you don't have glasses up to the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard, you can still watch an eclipse. Poke a small hole through a sheet of paper and hold it up against the sun. You should have a shadow with a spot of light underneath it. That dot is basically a projection of the sun, and it will go through an eclipse while you watch.
Wrapping it up: Safe viewing for nature's greatest spectacle
We've gone over what happens if you stare at a solar eclipse, but it's not all bad. If you pay attention and take proper precautions, you can enjoy the greatest show nature puts on and do it safely. Just in case, check out these money-saving coupons for contacts.
FAQs
Can you go blind from staring at a solar eclipse?
You can, but most people have symptoms less permanent than lifelong blindness.
How long does it take for eye damage from an eclipse to manifest?
Eye damage from an eclipse can show itself immediately, or it may take days to weeks to become an issue. It's important to seek medical attention if you experience any symptoms of solar retinopathy after viewing an eclipse (or staring at the sun during non-eclipse times).
Are all solar viewing glasses safe for eclipse viewing?
No, not all solar viewing glasses are safe. Make sure the glasses you're using meet the international safety standard for solar viewers.