Warner Robins eye specialist urges proper protection for solar eclipse viewing

For most of Georgia, the moon will begin eclipsing the sun at 1:45 p.m. Monday.  The eclipse will then reach its max at 3:04 p.m., when just more than 80 percent of the sun will be behind the moon.

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – When going outside Monday to see the full solar eclipse, make sure you protect yourself.

Dr. Navid Khoshooee is an optometrist with Brown’s Eye Center in Warner Robins. He explains what you need to cover your eyes with before looking up into the sky.

“One organization that sets the standards for that is the International Organization for Standardization, or the ISO,” he said. “The marking that you want to look for on these glasses that you get would be ISO-12312-2, which would mean that the glasses block or filter enough visible light and other harmful radiation to make them safe for direct observation of the sun.”

Dr. Khoshooee says if you don’t wear the recommended glasses, it could permanently damage your vision.

“When we directly look at the sun, we are essentially turning the eye in a way that we are aligning the macula with the sun, and what happens is that you are exposing it to all that high intensity radiation,” he said. “And the worst thing about that is the damage to the retina can happen in a matter of a few seconds. A lot of the times it is irreversible. Also there is nothing that can bring that vision back when that happens.”

For most of Georgia, the moon will begin eclipsing the sun at 1:45 p.m. Monday.  The eclipse will then reach its max at 3:04 p.m., when just more than 80 percent of the sun will be behind the moon.

The next full solar eclipse won’t happen again in the U.S. until August 23, 2044.