How To Tell If You Have Eye Damage After Viewing The Eclipse

Eye balls bugging you after watching the eclispe? The solar eclipse passed over Mexico, the United States, and Canada on Monday, providing a heavenly show. However, in the aftermath, some people may experience eye irritation instead of astonishment.

You may be wondering if your eclipse glasses were bogus. Perhaps you neglected to put them back on as the day’s first rays arrived after totality. Or you spotted your child, friend, or family member looking up at the sun without wearing glasses.

How To Tell If You Have Eye Damage After Viewing The Eclipse

Solar retinopathy, or retinal damage brought on by solar radiation, can result from looking at the sun without using appropriate eye protection, such as certified eclipse glasses or solar viewers. While the highly specialized cells inside our eyes do not experience pain, staring at the sun causes inflammation and damage to the rods, cones, and photochemical reactors, according to Ronald Benner, an optometrist and president of the American Optometric Association.

During the 2017 total solar eclipse, a young woman was diagnosed with solar retinopathy in both eyes after viewing it with eclipse glasses that physicians said were not up to safety standards.

There is no cure for solar retinopathy. It may improve or worsen, but it is a permanent condition.

After-eclipse eye injury symptoms
Symptoms of eye injury from viewing the eclipse without proper protection can take hours or days to appear. They include loss of central vision, changes in color vision, and distorted vision.

How To Tell If You Have Eye Damage After Viewing The Eclipse

“Eclipse damage is unlikely to produce pain or discomfort in your eyes because the retina lacks pain nerves. Instead, visual symptoms might appear within 4-6 hours. However, some people may experience symptoms after 12 hours,” emailed Michelle Andreoli, eye ophthalmologist and clinical representative for the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Doctors advise that if you detect any signs or are experiencing eye discomfort, schedule an appointment with a health care provider or an eye care specialist right away.

“For most people, it’s an alteration of color vision,” he stated. “The next morning, the colors don’t appear right, or they’ve been bleached out or fuzzy all the time. Others may have genuine holes in their vision.

According to Benner, damage to the center of someone’s eyesight can impair their ability to read or recognize faces.

It is comparable to the effect a camera flash has on our eyes, which can distort it for a few minutes before going away. However, the severity of solar retinopathy causes lifelong damage that is not immediately noticeable. Overnight, the cells can perish and will not be replaced.

How To Tell If You Have Eye Damage After Viewing The Eclipse

The injury sustained determines the alterations in a person’s vision, which can occur in one or both eyes.

“The retina is an extension of the brain, so it’s actually neurological tissue, and when you damage that, it doesn’t always come back,” he said. “If you harm one cell, it may never be the same. However, if you damage a group of cells, you will experience blotchy vision, similar to having someone rub oil on your windshield. If you only cause little damage to them and do not kill them, their color vision will be affected. What can you do about this? Nothing else than preventing it.”

Benner also recommends that parents discuss with their children the signs of pain if they watched the eclipse together, especially if they are concerned that their children may have removed or glanced around the eclipse glasses. Children may find it difficult to explain their experiences, such as not being able to properly see

SOURCE – (CNN)