A Sight to Behold: Solar Eclipse 2024

Get ready for a rare sight! A total solar eclipse will grace the U.S. skies on April 8, the first since 2017. Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG) Oph­thal­mol­o­gist Dr. Eric Sieck reminds every­one that while this is a sight to behold, pri­or­i­tiz­ing eye safe­ty is cru­cial for a tru­ly unfor­get­table experience.

Safe­ty First
Dr. Sieck empha­sizes the impor­tance of prop­er eye pro­tec­tion dur­ing the eclipse, high­light­ing a star­tling sta­tis­tic — 90% of solar retinopa­thy cas­es come from eclipse viewing.

“Look­ing direct­ly at the sun, even for a brief moment, can cause per­ma­nent eye dam­age called solar retinopa­thy,” he warned. ​“This dam­age can lead to scar­ring, vision loss, and seri­ous injury.”

In some areas of the coun­try, peo­ple will expe­ri­ence ​“total­i­ty” when the sun is com­plete­ly blocked. In Quin­cy and the imme­di­ate sur­round­ing areas, Dr. Sieck said there will be no safe time to view the eclipse with­out prop­er eyewear.

While some areas will expe­ri­ence ​‘total­i­ty’ (com­plete sun block­age), Quin­cy and sur­round­ing areas will have a near-total eclipse (almost 93% block­age). This can be deceiv­ing, as the remain­ing 7% of the sun can still cause seri­ous eye damage.

“The region will get to a point when the eclipse looks like a dia­mond ring, where almost the entire sun will be cov­ered, but there will be one lit­tle hot spot and peo­ple will be tempt­ed to look at the dia­mond ring, but that’s when the worst poten­tial injury could hap­pen,” he explained.

Pro­tect­ing Chil­dren: A Top Pri­or­i­ty
Chil­dren are espe­cial­ly vul­ner­a­ble to eye dam­age from the sun, so adults need to be con­sci­en­tious in pro­tect­ing chil­dren in their care.

“Their eye tis­sue is younger, the struc­tures in their eyes are much clear­er, there’s more trans­mis­sion of the ener­gy to back of the eye. Peo­ple need to take care of their chil­dren first with appro­pri­ate eye­wear before they put their own eye­wear on,” he explained.

Choos­ing the Right Eye­wear
When watch­ing a par­tial or annu­lar solar eclipse direct­ly with your eyes, you must look through safe solar view­ing glass­es (“eclipse glass­es”) at all times. Eclipse glass­es are NOT reg­u­lar sun­glass­es; reg­u­lar sun­glass­es, no mat­ter how dark, are not safe for view­ing the sun.

Here’s what to look for:

• ISO Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion: Look for glass­es with a des­ig­nat­ed ISO 12312 – 2 inter­na­tion­al stan­dard, ensur­ing they meet safe­ty requirements.
• Man­u­fac­tur­er Infor­ma­tion: The manufacturer’s name and address should be print­ed on the product.
• Expiry and Con­di­tion: Don’t use glass­es old­er than three years or with scratched/​wrinkled lenses.
• No Sub­sti­tutes: Home­made fil­ters, reg­u­lar sun­glass­es (even dark ones), and view­ing through opti­cal devices are not safe for direct sun observation.