Source: American Astronomical Society
STATEWIDE--If you plan on watching the solar eclipse when it arrives in Indiana on April 8, you’ll want to make you are wearing the proper eyewear.
You can find them in a lot of places like Amazon or Walgreens, but Dr. Sarah Olvey with Peyton Manning Children’s Carmel Pediatrics says before you buy a pair of glasses, you need to make sure they are ISO certified.
“These are the glasses that need to be worn 100% of the time if you’re going to be looking directly at the sun. When you actually open up the glasses, the ones I’ve seen show the certification on one of the arms of the glasses. It’s typically on the left arm,” said Olvey.
Olvey says eye damage can sneak up on you in a situation like this if you are not careful.
“What’s tough with eye damage is our retina doesn’t sense pain, so you’re not going to look at the sun and feel pain and know to look away. That symptom of eye damage often won’t be felt until several hours later,” said Olvey.
That’s why she says it’s important for parents to make sure their kids are wearing the proper glasses. If you don’t have any desire to wear glasses, there are other options.
“NASA has a video about how you can use a shoe box to make a projector where your back is to the sun, but you can still see what’s going on with the eclipse. The safest option for younger kids who can’t keep the glasses on the whole time is to have them watch the livestream of it, so they can protect their eyes,” said Olvey.
While Olvey says she hasn’t seen anything like this happen in her area, she’s seen it happen elsewhere.
“We’re just trying to prepare and give good preventive advice for parents so they can protect their children,” said Olvey.
Nearly 4 million Hoosiers reside within the path of totality for the eclipse.
You can listen to the full interview with Olvey below.
