Experts told the Washington Post that anyone who followed the required safety tips and used proper solar eclipse glasses to watch Monday’s spectacle should be reassured that their eyes escaped any serious damage. But if symptoms like pain — or, more importantly, pain or blurred vision — persist, they strongly recommend seeing an eye doctor.
Here’s what you need to know about why your eyes might hurt after watching the solar eclipse.
I used to wear eclipse glasses but now my eyes are sore or dry. Should I be worried?
If you experience headaches, aches, pains or any other symptoms after viewing the eclipse, it’s worth checking that you were properly protected. Glasses that provide sufficient protection contain the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) code 12312-2, and the American Astronomical Society has a list of trusted manufacturers.
Counterfeits exist. Before the eclipse, Amazon sent an email to customers on Friday telling them that a brand of glasses sold on the site, Biniki, had not been approved by the American Astronomical Society and “may not be safe to observe a solar eclipse. The Illinois Department of Public Health also warned On Monday, Biniki glasses did not meet safety standards despite being sold online and in some stores.
If you wore approved glasses and only viewed the solar eclipse through them, it’s unlikely your eyes would have been damaged, said Carl Jacobsen, a clinical professor at the UC Berkeley School of Optometry .
Some discomfort may come naturally from drying out the eyes after a long period of concentrating and watching the eclipse, especially outdoors, Jacobsen said. Sore eyes can be treated with lubricating eye drops.
Why is watching the eclipse without glasses dangerous?
It is always dangerous to look at the sun with the naked eye. A burst of focused light from the sun can damage the photoreceptors in your eyes, which can lead to vision impairment or blindness.
An eclipse is a particularly risky time to look directly at the sun, Suzanne Fleiszig, a professor of optometry and vision sciences at the School of Optometry at Berkeley, told the Washington Post. While the sun is partially obscured, certain wavelengths that trigger pain are blocked, dampening the reflex to look away. But enough rays will still get through to damage your eyes.
Even just a glance at the sun can leave your eyes vulnerable to damage. It’s also not safe to look at the sun through a camera, telescope or binoculars, warns the American Astronomical Society.
I watched the eclipse without glasses, what should I do?
If you watched the solar eclipse without protection or with faulty glasses, you should watch out for symptoms such as pain or blurred vision. If your vision is blurry or you see gray spots that don’t go away, you may have suffered damage to your retina, said Seth Laster, an optometrist in Fort Smith, Ark.
“I tell people, ‘Hey, if you’re looking at something (and) part of the picture is missing, definitely come see your local optometrist,’” Laster said.
Solar retinopathy — damage to your retinas from seeing bright lights like the sun or a laser pointer — doesn’t always cause pain but can permanently affect your vision, Laster said. Experts added that the damage is not always obvious immediately and can appear within hours or days of looking at the sun.
“Seeing the sun is often like having a sunburn,” said Tamara Oechslin, an optometrist and associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “You don’t notice the worst of the damage until an hour or two later.”
Eye pain can also be caused by photokeratitis, caused by exposure to ultraviolet rays. It is also called snow blindness or welder’s flash when it is caused by sunlight reflecting off snow in arctic conditions or by the light of a welder’s torch. Photokeratitis is a more painful disease than solar retinopathy, Jacobsen said. But this is less likely to happen when viewing an eclipse and generally does not result in permanent damage.
The main factor to consider is how long your symptoms have lasted, Jacobsen said. If problems persist after using eye drops, or if blurry shapes in your vision persist when you close your eyes, it’s probably best to see your doctor.
“There are so many different things that can happen with people’s eyes,” Jacobsen said. “And we can never go wrong by saying, ‘Call your eye doctor immediately.’
Caroline O’Donovan, Amudalat Ajasa and Joel Achenbach contributed to this report.
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