(Courtesy of John A. Moran Eye Center) Jeff Pettey, an ophthalmologist at the John A. Moran Eye Center, demonstrated Wednesday how staring directly at the sun, without protective glasses, can cause permanent damage to the retina. His presentation underscored the need for eye protection when viewing the solar eclipse, which will be visible across the West on Aug. 21.
Residents across Utah and the Intermountain West planning to watch the rare solar eclipse on Aug. 21 should take heed of Nina Waters’ story.
Thirty years ago, the resident of Rostov-on-don in southern Russia rushed into the street outside her home to join neighbors watching a total solar eclipse. Before looking toward the sky, a man handed her a dark piece of broken glass to shield against the Sun’s harmful rays.
Waters held it up to her eyes and gazed upon the Moon as it aligned over the Sun to create a thin glistening halo and cast a fleeting and dark shadow across the Earth.
Within minutes, a crescent of Sun peeked from behind the Moon and Waters’ makeshift barrier failed to keep the sun’s rays from burning her eyes. It would be almost a decade before Waters, now 60 and living in Salt Lake City, would learn that the eclipse caused permanent damage to her left eye, with bleeding and vision loss that took several surgeries to repair.
“After looking at the sun, it felt like a bee sting in my eye,” Waters said.
She offered her story Wednesday at the John A. Moran Eye Center as ophthalmologists there urged residents to protect their vision before watching the upcoming eclipse, which will be visible in totality or as a partial eclipse across most of the country.
The Moran Eye Center is giving away 1,000 pairs of protective glasses at nine of its optical shops along the Wasatch Front starting Friday, with a limit of two per family while supplies lasts.
After all free glasses have been distributed, additional pairs can be purchased for $1.50 at the same locales.
Farmington, 165 N University Ave., Farmington
Midvalley, 243 East 6100 South, Murray
Parkway, 145 W University Parkway, Orem
Primary Children’s, 3741 West 12600 South, Riverton
Redstone, 1743 W. Redstone Center Dr., Park City
Redwood, 1525 West 2100 South, Salt Lake City
South Jordan 5126 W. Daybreak Parkway, South Jordan
Stansbury, 220 Millpond Rd., Stansbury Park
University, 65 Mario Capecchi Dr., Salt Lake City
The solar eclipse glasses look similar to 3-D movie theater glasses and block out all but one-millionth of the sun’s rays, experts said.
True eclipse glasses meet a worldwide standard from the International Organization for Standardization labeled ISO 12312-2, according to the American Astronomical Society, and make it impossible to see anything else when worn, other than when onlookers turn their vision toward the Sun.
The eclipse can also be viewed behind welder’s glass with a number 14 filter or greater, according to National Aeronautics and Space Association, or NASA.
Looking directly at the Sun anytime — including during an eclipse or not — risks longterm to permanent damage to the retina’s macula, an oval-shaped area at the center of the retina which controls high-resolution and color vision. The damage manifests as blurred or blind spots in the center of vision, making it difficult to read or distinguish facial features.
Although there isn’t always immediate pain after looking directly at the Sun, Jeff Pettey, ophthalmologist at the Moran Eye Center, said vision loss can appear within hours.
“Damage can happen at different rates depending on your eyes. Some have a predisposition or already have damage” to that region of the eye, Pettey said. “The truth is, we really don’t know exactly how quickly damage can happen. The safest advice is don’t look directly at the sun or the eclipse.”
The only time to safely look at a solar eclipse are those few seconds when the Moon completely blocks the Sun’s rays, referred to as totality, according to NASA. And the total eclipse will not be visible anywhere in Utah, Pettey said, meaning as is no safe time or place to safely stare at the event in the Beehive state.
Although eye surgery helped Waters regain some of her vision, she said she will not watch the eclipse – even with safety glasses.
“I am scared because I only have one eye left that isn’t damaged,” she said. “I don’t want to hurt the other one.”
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