Eclipses injured their eyes and the world never looked the same again

A young woman visited the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai Hospital shortly after the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse. 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 a surf,” he said.

She had looked at the sun during the eclipse without any protection. The burn was an image of the sun’s corona, its halo-like outer edge.

During every solar eclipse, ophthalmologists see patients who 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. Symptoms usually disappear, although this may take several weeks to a year.

But the burns on the woman’s retina, which Dr. Deobhakta and colleagues described in a medical record, did not want to be cured. Her retina was permanently scarred, a sign of the severity of the injuries that can result from watching a solar eclipse without proper precautions.

With the upcoming solar eclipse in April, ophthalmologists are advising people to be cautious and not assume that brief glances at the sun are safe. According to them, damage can occur in less than a minute.

David Calkins, director of the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center and vice chairman of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute in Nashville, said younger people are most at risk of retinal damage, possibly because the lens of their eye is clearer than the lens in older people. He said they might also be a bit more reckless.

But age is no guarantee of safe viewing of eclipses.

An investigation described 20 people aged 15 to 82 in England, who complained of symptoms such as black spots in their vision or blurred vision after a solar eclipse in 1999. Four said they used eclipse glasses; someone said she was using sunglasses. The rest watched with naked eyes.

Five had visible damage to their retinas. All but four of the 20 were better after seven months.

Not everyone is so lucky. An investigation published Last year four young Irish women were involved looked at the sun during a religious gathering in October 2009. The women, who did not know each other, sought medical attention within a few days of looking at the sun. They complained of blind spots in the center of their vision and said objects looked distorted and blurry.

Researchers from Galway University Hospital followed the women for an average of more than five years. One was followed for 11 years.

Years later, researchers reported that all women still had blind spots.

For Dr. Deobhakta, the situation with the woman in 2017 is a cautionary tale.

Although she wore protective glasses for part of the time she watched the eclipse, she first looked at it several times, for about six seconds each, without protection.

She felt fine for four hours. Then her symptoms emerged: blurred vision, distorted shapes and colors, and that crescent-shaped black spot in the center of her vision with her left eye.

Most people view a solar eclipse through special eclipse glasses. The glasses often have a cardboard housing with special foil in the eye holes that filters harmful rays.

Dr. Deobhakta said he didn’t trust many of the eclipse glasses being sold and felt it wasn’t worth taking a chance on. He prefers one indirect method using holes, as in a colander, to cast the sun’s shadow on the ground.

Professional groups say many eclipse glasses are safe, but urge caution when purchasing them. This is reported by the American Astronomical Society potentially unsafe eclipse glasses flooded the market before the 2017 solar eclipse.

To help people find eclipse glasses, the Astronomical Society displays reliable sellers and distributors.

Legitimate eclipse glasses must meet specific international safety standards known as ISO 12312-2. Testing requires a spectrophotometer that measures how much ultraviolet, visible and infrared light passes through the glasses.

But an ISO logo on the glasses is not necessarily a guarantee, the astronomical association 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 astronomical association’s Solar Eclipse Task Force, said counterfeit companies also put the names of legitimate distributors on their products. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are unsafe, he added. But it does mean that the seller, or the company that sold him the products, is committing fraud.

Dr. Fienberg suggests buying directly from a seller on the astronomical association’s list.

But, he said, if you’re concerned about your glasses, there is a way to tell if they are effective. Look around a room with the eclipse glasses on. The glasses should be so dark that you cannot see anything. Then go outside and look at the sun with your glasses on. You’re probably safe, he said, if you can see the sun through the lenses and “the image is sharp and comfortably clear.”

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 solar eclipse.

“Don’t look at it, whether you have glasses or not,” he said. ‘I don’t let my relatives watch it. I’m a doctor. That’s why I say what I say. I saw what happened.”