Eclipse blindness: How watching solar eclipse can damage your eyes

While many people would be eager to witness the celestial event, one should avoid looking directly at the Sun to prevent damage to eyes.

The last Solar Eclipse of 2021 will be visible on December 4 in some parts of the world, but not in India. While many parts of the world will get a glimpse of a partial solar eclipse, Antarctica will be the only place on Earth to experience a full solar eclipse.

While many people would be eager to witness the celestial event, one should avoid looking directly at the Sun to prevent damage to eyes.

A Solar Eclipse or Surya Grahan occurs when the moon comes between sun and the earth blocking light of the sun and casting a shadow on earth. In case of total solar eclipse, the sun's light is completely blocked by moon while in case of partial solar eclipse, moon only blocks a part of sun.

While viewing a total solar eclipse normally doesn't cause any harm, watching a partial solar eclipse can badly damage the eyes.

"Watching Solar eclipse through naked eye can cause central retinal burn known as solar retinopathy. Normally we can't stare sun through naked eye because of intense light released by sun causing immediate eye closure through reflex action but during solar eclipse since the intensity of sunlight is decreased significantly hence we can see the sun through naked eye. While we watch the sun through naked eye the ultraviolet rays released by sun penetrate our eyes and causes central macular retinal burn leading to loss of central vision," Dr Arvind Kumar Senior Consultant & HOD - Ophthalmology, Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad told HT Digital.

The damage can be temporary or permanent and can happen without any pain. In fact the damage could be visible after a few hours or even few days after viewing the solar eclipse.

If you watch solar eclipse without any protection, you may suffer loss of central vision (solar retinopathy), distorted vision or altered colour vision.

"Solar eclipse can cause a certain amount of damage on the macula of the retina and the person loses vision on the centre part of the vision and would be able to see the peripheral visual field but not the centre in case of solar eclipse retinal damage, but it will be like a black spot in the centre that’s because the solar rays have damaged the macula (the centre part of the retina)," Dr Sandeep Kataria, Consultant Opthalmologist, Wockhardt Hospital had earlier told HT Digital.

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