How Do You Know If You Damaged Your Eyes Looking At The Eclipse? Here's What To Look For

DETROIT (WWJ) - The experts warned us not to look at the eclipse without proper eye wear — or risk serious damage to your eyes or even blindness. So what if you did take a quick peek?

Dr. Jason Dilly, an eye specialist and surgeon at Henry Ford Hospital, said symptoms can occur immediately, or within hours or days after sun exposure.

"There is what we call a scotoma or a small blind spot, typically central in both eyes," Dilly told WWJ's Dr. Deanna Lites. "And it just is very blurry and details are fuzzed out, typically in the center of your vision — that's how you might be on to the possibility that you've damaged your eyes."

Other symptoms may include eye pain or sensitivity to light, Dilly said.

The damage can be temporary or permanent. It can also depend on how long the patient looked at the sun without protective glasses.

"If the exposure was very short, you might have a small amount of damage. If it was longer, obviously you will have much more damage," Dilly said. "And people are different from patient to patient as well. So some people might sneak a quick peek and not be affected as much, as other people might have a severe injury right off the bat."

If you experience any type of vision problem following the eclipse, you should contact an eye doctor for an evaluation as soon as possible.

Dilly said while there is no direct treatment for light damage or sun-gazing damage, known as solar retinopathy, it's still better not to put it off.

"Unfortunately the best that we can do is diagnose the disorder and then watch it for improvement; and we can tell you based on direct examination, and obviously getting a good history and taking certain special tests here in the office, we can sort of tell you how much damage has been done," Dilly explained.

"Unfortunately there's really nothing that can restore it except patience and waiting," he added. "And I don't mean to be negative, but some people never recover their vision, which is why it's really important to prevent it in the first place."