The day of the upcoming total solar eclipse is coming closer, and local eye doctors are looking to remind the community why it is important to not look directly at the eclipse without protection while it is happening.

“You definitely should not look directly at it,” said Dr. Gordon Wuebbolt with Community Eye Care Specialists. “You can get inexpensive glasses online and use those during the eclipse. If you do look directly at it you can cause permanent damage to the macula.”

Doctor Anna Wohlgemuth with Spectrum Eye Care said that beyond not looking directly at the eclipse, there are a few interesting reasons as to why.

“The interesting thing about eyeball pain receptors is that you have them very densely on the front of your eyeball,” Wohlgemuth said. “That’s why when you get something like sand in your eye it hurts a lot. During the eclipse you can get damage to the front of your eye in minutes, along with severe pain.”

Besides in the front, Wohlgemuth said that looking directly at a solar eclipse can cause damage to the retina in the back of the eye, a place that actually has no pain receptors so more damage can happen to the retina without a person necessarily feeling or noticing it.

This is the main reason why getting eclipse glasses that are ISO approved is important, Wohlgemuth said. There are multiple websites from places such as NASA or the American Association of Astronomy that will have the correct information on how to make sure the glasses are correct. Wohlgemuth added that there are tests you can do yourself as well.

“If the glasses work you should not be able to see regular light through them at all,” Wohlgemuth said. “You can test them in a room in ambient light. So, say if you are in your room and you look at a lamp, you shouldn’t be able to see it.”

If someone cannot access glasses, there is also the ability to make a pinhole camera using items from home. NASA also offers tutorials on how to make these.

Wohlgemuth said that a person should also not look at the eclipse through a traditional camera, binoculars or anything similar without approved filters as these serve to both magnify and intensify light. She added that looking at it through a phone is also not a good idea. There are filters available for phones but trying to look at or take pictures with a phone during the eclipse may damage phone sensors. Wohlgemuth said that a phone will not necessarily be able to get the best pictures during the eclipse anyway, adding that when trying to use different devices it is important to keep the eclipse glasses on in case you accidentally look up.

“If you’re into photography and want to take pictures of the day it may be better to try and get some of the shadows cast by different buildings and things or of the people you are with that day and their reactions,” Wohlgemuth said.

From an eye doctor standpoint, something else that Wohlgemuth finds interesting is that the sun does not actually change its behavior but the sensitivity to light around the sun changes. This means that when the moon blocks the sun, it seems like it is darker out but there is still the same amount of Ultraviolet light being let off by the sun. This has the ability to play tricks on people’s eyes.

“We think it is darker but the UV light is just as harmful,” Wohlgemuth said. “Because the visible light has decreased our eyes are tricked into making our pupils bigger, which is what normally happens in the dark. Our eyes are tricked into making a large pupil because there is not a lot of light and so the eye will let in more harmful UV light.”

Eclipse glasses are available online and at different stores and locations across the county.