This Was the Surprising Top Search After the Solar Eclipse

The solar eclipse caused a ‘black out’ in 14 states yesterday, but people are scared it [...]

By Kelsey Patterson

The solar eclipse caused a 'black out' in 14 states yesterday, but people are scared it blacked out their eyes, too.

Scientists appeared on news outlets and shared content online warning about the dangers of staring directly into the sun for the August 21 solar eclipse, but did people listen? Though we heard for weeks that you need solar eclipse glasses or a DIY pinhole projector to safely watch the moon cover the sun, we have some rebels on our hands.

Just after the eclipse concluded in the United States, searches for "eyes hurt" soared, as you can see in the graph below.

eyes hurt solar eclipse
(Photo: Google)

Other popular searches like "eyes hurt eclipse" and "eclipse hurt your eyes" make the motivation more obvious.

Why would so many have this issue, even if they didn't stare for prolonged periods of time? "When you look directly at the sun, the intensity of the light and the focus of the light is so great on the retina that it can cook it," Dr. Christopher Quinn, president of the American Optometric Association, told CNN. "If the exposure is great enough, that can and will lead to permanent reduction in vision and even blindness."

Though the searches for "eyes hurt" skyrocketed almost immediately after the eclipse, there are actually no immediate symptoms associated with damage to the retina, which doesn't have pain receptors, ophthalmologists say.

Those symptoms—blurred vision, yellow or dark spots, loss of vision in the center of the eye—would appear about 12 hours after exposure, likely when you wake up the following morning.

"They can't see faces in the mirror, they can't read the newspaper or the smartphone display, they're having trouble looking at road signs, and basically they've got this center spot in their vision that is intensely blurred," said Dr. B. Ralph Chou, the president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and a former optometry professor, to TIME.

Chou also notes that it is impossible to go completely blind from staring at the eclipse, but you can become legally blind.

Though your retinas' lack of pain receptors makes it impossible for your eyes to really hurt immediately following the eclipse, it didn't stop people from freaking out on social media.

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