Do Your Eyes Hurt After Looking at the Solar Eclipse? Here’s What to Know

Some might have taken a quick glance. Others may worry their eclipse glasses were defective, especially after a last-minute recall for eclipse glasses sold through Amazon. Or maybe you’re just a worrier.

Regardless, here’s how to tell if you might have eye damage from the solar eclipse and what to do about it.

Is it ever safe to look at the sun during an eclipse?

Experts say no. Staring at the sun for as little as 5 seconds can damage the eyes, and even longer can make the damage permanent.

The only time it is safe to look at the sun without eclipse glasses is during the brief period of totality, according to NASA. The organization’s help page says when complete totality occurs, the sun cannot be seen at all through eclipse glasses. If this is the only time you looked up without protection, it is unlikely you experienced eye damage.

How our eyes work

Light enters the front of the eye and is focused onto the retina in the back of the eye. Photoreceptors in the retina convert light into an electrical signal that travels to the brain, which interprets the signal. The intensity of direct sunlight forces the photoreceptors in the retina to absorb high amounts of energy, damaging or killing them.

Symptoms of damage or solar retinopathy

How long you can look at the sun before experiencing damage is not clear. Dimitrios Karamichos, executive director of the North Texas Eye Research Institute at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, previously told The Dallas Morning News permanent damage to the retina can happen in 60 to 100 seconds or less.

Vision problems may not be apparent until the next day, Karamichos said. Symptoms of this condition, called solar retinopathy, include:

• Distortion.
• Dark spots in central vision.
• Loss of sharpness.

Can you treat solar retinopathy?

There is no treatment for eye damage caused by the sun. The eye may recover on its own — or it may not. Even if vision improves, some distortion and dark spots may remain. But once photoreceptors die, they are gone for good.

”They don’t divide; they don’t multiply,” Dr. Rafael Ufret-Vincenty, an associate professor in the ophthalmology department at UT Southwestern Medical Center previously told The News. “So once you lose them, you lose them.”

If you are experiencing any of the symptoms of solar retinopathy, doctors told CBS you should immediately contact an ophthalmologist for an evaluation.

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