So, You Looked At The Eclipse Without Glasses. Are Your Eyes Doomed?

On Monday, millions of people across the United States, Mexico and Canada witnessed a partial or total solar eclipse. And based on photos alone, at least some people did it without protective eyewear.

Maybe you forgot your eclipse glasses and could not resist a peek up at the sun. Maybe you thought you could safely watch the phenomenon for just a few seconds. Either way, there can now be concerning consequences.

Staring at the sun during an eclipse can cause irrevocable eye damage. It is only safe to look up with your eyes uncovered during the brief time when the moon completely blocks the sun during a solar eclipse, according to NASA. Outside of that short period, looking at the eclipse can damage your retinal cells.

Benjamin Bert, an ophthalmologist at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, compared this kind of retinal damage to what happens when you hold a magnifying glass over paper on a sunny day and the paper burns.

“Our eye is designed in such a way that all of the light is focused to one spot in the retina,” Bert said. “And so if you have all of that energy focused there, you’re basically trying to set your retina on fire.”

It’s common for people who looked at the eclipse to be more worried, he said. “Each time that there’s been an eclipse, we see kind of an uptick in emergency appointments.”

But before you panic, learn what eclipse eye damage usually looks like.

How to tell if you damaged your eyes because of the eclipse

If you glanced at the eclipse directly without appropriate protective eyewear, should you be worried? Not necessarily.

“There is only cause for concern if new visual symptoms are occurring,” said Jill Beyer, an optometrist and a clinical assistant