If you have every tried to look directly at the sun, and almost everyone has at some time in their life, you may recall that your eyes involuntarily closed to protect the retina from exposure to the light. Eclipse eye protection is designed to not only protect your eyes from the intense visible light during an eclipse, but also from two other types of light from the sun that are equally damaging.
Sometimes people will indicate that it isn’t necessary to use eclipse eye protection and recommend that there are other options that are just as effective. This is simply not correct, and typically sunglasses even polarized glasses, do not provide the protection to save your eyesight.
While it is relatively rare for a person to completely lose their vision if glancing at the eclipse for a few seconds, there are very real and very common eye health issues that can occur. These may last for a few hours, days, weeks or months, and they can be completely avoided by wearing eclipse eye protection.
Solar Retinopathy
There is actually a medical term that has been developed to describe the symptoms that can occur if you look at the eclipse without eclipse eye protection. This is known as solar retinopathy, and it can also occur with prolonged looks directly into the sun at any time.
Solar retinopathy occurs when the sun is suddenly exposed from behind the eclipse, literally instantly turning dark into blazing light. The UV light, the infrared light as well the visual light bombards the retina at the back of the eye even before your pupil can contract or you can blink or look away.
The retina, which has all the light-sensing cells in the eye, cannot handle this flood of light and energy. During this flooding of the neurons, all types of chemicals are released in the eye that can actually destroy functioning neurons in the retina, resulting in vision problems or blindness.
Symptoms of Damage
Without eclipse eye protection, even a glimpse at the sun during the eclipse may cause some symptoms depending on how directly you looked into the sun. The most common symptoms include a dimness of vision that can last several hours to days or weeks.
Other symptoms can include seeing afterimages, which are sometimes known as ghost or shadow images, of the eclipse for extended periods of time. This can be accompanied by eye pain, tearing, eye irritation and general vision problems.
The best way to prevent any issues with your eyes is to enjoy yourself on August 21, 2017, but to make sure you are wearing your eclipse eye protection. This not only protects your eyes but ensures you can watch the total eclipse without any worries about a possible eye injury.
