(NEXSTAR) – For weeks, experts have been warning people not to look at the total solar eclipse without the proper safety gear. Did you listen?
Looking at the sun – during an eclipse or any other time – without certified viewing glasses can cause permanent eye damage.
“The lenses of your eye … can concentrate the rays of the sun so strongly as to cause an immediate burn. The same effect will occur in the retina and create essentially a hole in your vision, which sometimes can be permanent,” explained Dr. Russell Van Gelder with the American Academy of Ophthalmology.