Eclipse: how to know if your eyes are damaged and the warning symptoms

Dryness or a gritty feeling after the eclipse is usually temporary, but a central blind spot may mean retinal damage. An expert explains the warning signs and when to see a specialist. Millions of people have just watched the historic solar eclipse, the first to be visible from the Iberian Peninsula since 1912, and it is possible that some people may have accidentally looked at the Sun without adequate protection. Should you be worried if your eyes sting after the eclipse? And what if a small spot appears in the centre of your vision? Specialists warn that not all symptoms have the same significance and that the signs of a serious injury may not appear immediately. "There are two things we need to distinguish," explains Dr Laura Sararols to 'Euronews', head of the Retina Unit at Hospital General de Granollers and head of service at OMIQ in Hospital Universitari General de Catalunya. On the one hand, spending a long time staring at the eclipse, even when using protective glasses correctly, can mean we blink less and cause dry eyes, a sensation of grit or a foreign body in the eye and other temporary discomfort. "This is of no importance whatsoever", Sararols says reassuringly. It is a phenomenon similar to what can occur after spending many hours focused on a screen and, she explains, it usually disappears within a few hours and can be relieved with artificial tears. Solar retinopathy or solar maculopathy is very different. It is an injury caused by direct exposure to solar radiation that affects the retina and can particularly damage the macula, the area responsible for central vision. And there is an added complication: when the damage occurs it does not have to be painful. "At the moment when you are looking at the light you do not notice anything. There is no pain, you do not feel anything," Sararols explains. Warning sign: a spot in the centre of your vision The symptom that deserves particular attention after the eclipse is a change in central vision, Sararols says. "The patient may notice that in the central area there is a kind of black patch, an area that does not focus or a greyish patch that is always in the same place." Blurred vision may also appear. The Healthcare Management of Soria, part of the regional government of Castile and León, lists among the warning signs dark spots in the centre of the vision, distorted images and difficulty distinguishing colours. The difference with mild discomfort is therefore significant. A gritty feeling, dryness or a foreign-body sensation may simply be due to having kept your gaze fixed and blinking less. A persistent spot in the centre of your vision or a change in what you see requires much closer attention. Symptoms may appear one or two days later Feeling perfectly fine immediately after the eclipse does not completely rule out an injury either. According to Sararols, the symptoms of solar maculopathy do not necessarily appear in the hours immediately following exposure. "Sometimes it is not in the hours afterwards, but it can be the next day or two days later," she notes. For this reason, anyone who has looked directly at the Sun without adequate protection should remain alert to any changes in their vision over the following days. The specialist places particular emphasis on children. If a child starts complaining of vision problems after the eclipse, parents should consider the possibility that they looked directly at the Sun even if the child does not admit it. "Children are not going to tell us they were looking at the eclipse and did what they were told not to do," Sararols warns. If symptoms appear, she recommends seeing a specialist to check whether there is an injury. How many seconds are enough to damage the retina? You do not need to look at the Sun for minutes to be at risk. Asked whether a few seconds of direct viewing can be enough to cause damage, Sararols answers in the affirmative. Radiation can cause a phototoxic injury in the fovea, located in the centre of the macula. That is why specialists emphasised in the days leading up to the eclipse the need to use specifically certified glasses for solar observation. One of the highest-risk moments came immediately before and after totality. During the brief period when the solar disc was completely covered by the Moon, it was possible to observe the phenomenon directly, but the return of sunlight meant that protection had to be used again straight away. Sararols explains that this transition was precisely when accidental exposure could occur among those who took off their glasses during totality and kept looking when the Sun reappeared. "Very quickly you can see the Sun's light again and that is the moment of greatest risk," she says. I filmed the eclipse on my phone: could I have damaged my eyes? Having filmed the eclipse on a phone does not in itself mean that eye damage has occurred. The key question is whether, while positioning, focusing or recording with the device, the person also looked directly at the Sun without proper protection. Sararols makes an important distinction: only watching the eclipse on the phone screen does not expose the eyes in the same way as looking directly at the Sun. "If you set your phone in position, press record and then look at the screen, nothing happens," the specialist explains. The risk lay in lifting your gaze from the screen and looking directly at the Sun while setting up or recording. Those who used their phone during the eclipse should therefore ask themselves whether at any point they looked directly at the Sun without protection, rather than worrying simply because they filmed it. The situation is different for those who watched the eclipse through binoculars, telescopes or cameras with optical viewfinders without appropriate solar filters, as these instruments concentrate radiation and can considerably increase the risk of eye injury. What should I do if a spot appears or my vision is blurred? If, after the eclipse, a black or greyish spot appears in the centre of your vision, an area you cannot focus on, blurred vision or any other persistent change in your sight, the recommendation is to see an ophthalmologist. At present, there is no treatment whose effectiveness has been proven to reverse solar retinopathy, Sararols explains. "Steroids are usually prescribed, but they have not been shown to be effective. In reality, there is no treatment that works to resolve this," she says. The absence of a specific treatment, however, does not mean you do not need to see a doctor. The ophthalmologist can examine and document the injury and monitor how it evolves. Some patients experience partial spontaneous recovery as certain photoreceptors heal, while in other cases permanent after-effects may remain. That is why, once the eclipse is over, Sararols leaves two particularly clear messages: do not be alarmed by a simple, fleeting sensation of dry eyes, but do not ignore a persistent change in central vision either.