Oh shit. I looked at the eclipse, I couldn't help myself. Will I go blind?

[Jaccuse]

Even though it was very briefly. And cloudy??

Yes can see eclipse-shaped blobs, eyes are feeling a bit strained and watery too.

Thanks for that link bumbling.

Only if you masturbate too much!

Yes. Yes you will

I looked the sun burnt a temporary shape onto my retina for a while. All has now returned to normal. I don't know why I looked. At least I had sense to look with only one eye.

charleymouse

Why would you wank to the eclipse though?

Although I first heard about armpit-sex on here the other day.

I'm obviously getting old.

WTAF?

Yes you'll go blind.

In about 4 hours half the country will be stumbling around blind. The world will go apocalyptic and everyone will be fighting for the twiddly bits on the bottom of the pedestrian crossing boxes to see if its safe to cross the road.

Well that would be silly.

Because the drivers will be blind too.

No the drivers were'nt looking at the eclipse.

They were driving.

Ahem.

reflection in water was repeatedly flagged up as a stupid thing to do on here and elsewhere. As was looking directly.

most cases of solar retinopathy heal in a while. There's no treatment.

it was incredibly tempting to look. But as an adult, I managed not to do so. The shadows were stunning.

For real?

FFS.

We couldn't get any shadows to work.
This is like the 6th or 7th in my life that I've looked at some type of partial eclipse (sort of, thru clouds, with sunglasses, thru smartphone, microsecond glance in that direction, thru car windscreen with clouds & sunglasses) and I've not gone blind yet. I'm not endorsing, I guess some people have to be told Not To Stare.

In last 5 yrs My night vision in left eye has deteriorated a fair bit, and my focus has gone at many distances in both eyes. Probably because I'm almost 50 & my parents both wore glasses from early 20s. So I feel blessed actually.

I saw a partial eclipse as a child. We were on a field and it was a bright day. I can remember seeing the shape of the moon in front of the sun, I looked directly at it and was not wearing any protective gear. I have no issues now apart from the fact that I am short sighted which I am sure is unrelated.

You will be ok!

Hey, stop taking the piss. OP is genuinely concerned. So am I, frankly.

I looked up at the bloody thing when the cloud thinned in front of the car (stop pearl-clutching, I was doing 20 at the time) and you CANNOT help looking, it's so eerie suddenly seeing the silvery crescent, especially after an hour of very disappointing thick grey cloud. I pulled over to get my eclipse specs out, but the cloud cover was too thick to let them work. I did then sneak a few more peeks. When I got back home and the sun had come out properly, I used the eclipse viewers, but not for more than brief looks. And yes, call me a hypochondriac (I am) but my eyes do now feel different. Tired and dry and as if I've been crying for hours. So I, the OP and some other commenters on this thread have genuine concerns.

The link posted upthread did reassure me a bit - that most cases do heal in time. I don't have any after-images that I can see.