If you’ve been a living, breathing, reading human in the United States for the past week, chances are you’re aware of the total solar eclipse that occurred on Monday afternoon.
In the weeks and days leading up to the eclipse, medical professionals warned against looking directly at the sun without eye protection during the eclipse, saying the powerful rays could harm your eyes.
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Even if you used the NASA-approved glasses while looking at the sun, we can’t blame you for being paranoid. After all, “my eyes hurt” wasn’t the top Google search immediately following the eclipse for no reason.
According to Fox2Now in St. Louis, if you’re worried about your eyesight after the eclipse, all you have to do is take a simple at-home test — and while it doesn’t replace a doctor visit, it could be an indicator of damage.
You can download an Amsler Grid online that can potentially suggest damage to the macula (the central part of the retina) or the optic nerve — the areas of your eyes that could have been damaged by looking directly at the sun.
According to All About Vision, just follow these simple steps after printing out your Amsler Grid:
- Test your eyes under normal room lighting used for reading.
- Wear eyeglasses you normally wear for reading.
- Hold the Amsler grid approximately 14-16 inches from your eyes.
- Test each eye separately: Cup your hand over one eye while testing the other eye.
- Keep your eye focused on the dot in the center of the grid and answer these questions:
- Do any of the lines in the grid appear wavy, blurred or distorted?
- Do all the boxes in the grid look square and the same size?
- Are there any “holes” (missing areas) or dark areas in the grid?
- Can you see all corners and sides of the grid (while keeping your eye on the central dot)?
- Switch to the other eye and repeat.
Below is an example of what an Amsler Grid would look like with normal vision compared to an example of what one would look like to someone with macular damage.
“If somebody didn’t use the correct lenses, the back part of the eye — the retina — the center part of the retina, could be damaged and if that’s the case, the central portion of their vision would be blurry in one or both eyes,” Dr. Steven Couch, an ophthalmologist with Washington University at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, told Fox2Now. “It would also be fuzzy or even black right in the center of their vision.”
Of course, if you’re concerned about your vision since the eclipse, no test can replace a visit to your eye doctor.
