Amid thetotal solar eclipse craze , experts repeatedly warned witness not to keep an eye on the rarefied phenomenon on August 21 with their naked eyes . But if you caught a peek sans field glass , pinhole projector , or protective filter , you may be wondering if your peepers were damage . ( After the sky show , " my eyes hurt"spikedas a Google search , so you ’re not alone . )
While the sun does n’t technically harm your eyes any more than usual during a solar eclipse , it can be easier to gaze at the glowing globe when the moon covers it . And depend directly at the sun — even briefly — can damage a smirch in the retina called the fovea , which assure clear central visual modality . This leads to a condition calledsolar retinopathy .
You wo n’t ab initio experience any pain if your eyes were damaged , as our retinas do n’t havepain receptors . Butaccording to Live Science , symptoms of solar retinopathy can arise within hours ( typically around 12 hours after sun photograph ) , and can let in blurred or twisted imagination , light sensitivity , a blind spot in one or both optic , or changes in the way you see people of color ( a condition calledchromatopsia ) .
These symptoms can improve over several months to a year , but some people may experience lingering problem , like a belittled unsighted smudge in their field of visual modality . Others may suffer permanent legal injury .
That articulate , if you only looked at the Dominicus for a moment , you ’re probably fine . “ If you look at it for a second or two , nothing will happen , " Jacob Chung , headman of ophthalmology at New Jersey ’s Englewood Hospital , told USA TODAY . " Five seconds , I ’m not sure , but 10 bit is plausibly too foresightful , and 20 seconds is definitely too farseeing . "
However , if youdidgaze at the sun for too long and you believe you may have damage your eyes , get a professional opinion , stat . “ Seeing an oculist is profligate than getting to see an ophthalmologist , ” Ralph Chou , a professor emeritus of optometry and vision science at the University of Waterloo , in Ontario , Canada , told NPR . “ If there is damage , the optometrist would refer the somebody to the ophthalmologist for further judgement and management in any case . ”
