A young woman visited the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai Hospital shortly after the eclipse on August 21, 2017. She told Dr. Avnish Deobhakta, an ophthalmologist, that she had a black area in her vision and then drew a crescent shape for him on a piece of paper.
When Dr. Deobhakta examined her eyes, he was amazed. He saw a burn on her retina that was exactly the same shape. It was “almost like branding,” he said.
He had looked at the sun during the eclipse without any protection. The burn was a picture of the outer edge of the sun.
With each eclipse, ophthalmologists see patients who have looked at the sun and then complain that their vision is distorted: They see small black spots, their eyes are watery and sensitive to light. Usually, symptoms go away, although it can take several weeks to a year.
But the woman’s retinal burns, which Dr. Deobhakta and colleagues described in a medical case report, would not heal. Her retina was permanently scarred, a sign of the seriousness of the injuries that can result from looking at an eclipse without the proper precautions.
With the eclipse looming in April, eye doctors are advising people to be cautious and not assume brief glimpses of the sun are safe. The damage can happen, they say, in less than a minute.
David Calkins, director of the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center and vice president of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute in Nashville, said younger people are more at risk of retinal injury, possibly because the lens of their eye is clearer than the lens in older people. He said they can also be a bit more reckless.
But age is no guarantee of safe eclipse viewing.
One study described 20 people aged 15 to 82 in England who complained of symptoms such as black spots in their vision or blurred vision after an eclipse in 1999. Four said they used eclipse glasses. one said she used sunglasses. The rest stared with blank eyes.
Five had visible damage to their retinas. All but four of the 20 were better after seven months.
Not everyone is so lucky. A study published last year involved four young Irish women who looked at the sun during a religious gathering in October 2009. The women, who did not know each other, sought medical help within days of looking at the sun. They complained of blind spots in the center of their vision and said that objects looked distorted and blurry.
Researchers from University Hospital Galway followed the women for more than five years on average. One was followed for 11 years.
Years later, the researchers reported, all the women still had the blind spots.
For Dr. Deobhakta, the state of women in 2017 is a cautionary tale.
While wearing protective glasses for part of the eclipse viewing, at first he looked at it several times for about six seconds each time without protection.
He felt fine for four hours. Then her symptoms appeared: blurred vision, distorted shapes and colors, and this crescent-shaped black spot in the center of her vision in her left eye.
Most people view an eclipse through special eclipse glasses. Glasses often have a cardboard body with a special membrane in the eye holes that filters out harmful rays.
Dr. Deobhakta said he doesn’t trust many of the eclipse glasses being sold and doesn’t think they’re worth a chance. He prefers an indirect method that involves using holes, like in a drill, to cast the sun’s shadow on the ground.
Professional groups say many eclipse glasses are safe, but they urge caution when buying them. The American Astronomical Society reported that potentially unsafe eclipse glasses flooded the market ahead of the 2017 eclipse.
To help people find eclipse glasses, the astronomy company lists reputable sellers and distributors.
Legal eclipse glasses must meet specific international safety standards known as ISO 12312-2. The test requires a spectrophotometer that measures how much UV, visible and infrared light passes through the glasses.
But an ISO logo on glasses isn’t necessarily an assurance, the astronomical society warns, because dealers can — and some do — grab an ISO logo from the Internet and put it on their glasses.
Rick Fienberg, project manager of the astronomy firm’s Solar Eclipse Task Force, said counterfeiters also put the names of legitimate distributors on their products. That doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t safe, he added. But it does mean that the seller, or the company that sold her the products, is committing fraud.
Dr. Fienberg suggests buying directly from a seller on the astronomy company’s list.
But, he said, if you’re worried about your glasses, there’s a way to see if they’re working. Look around a room with the eclipse glasses. The glasses should be so dark that you cannot see anything. Then go outside and take a look at the sun with the glasses. You’re probably safe, he said, if you can see the sun through the lenses and “the image is sharp and comfortably bright.”
Dr. Deobhakta is still worried. He says he knows he’s being overly cautious, but he can’t help but warn people about the upcoming eclipse.
“Don’t look at it whether you have glasses or not,” he said. “I’m not going to let my family members see it. I am a doctor. That’s why I say what I say. I saw what happened.”
