A Wyoming man who witnessed a partial eclipse 50 years ago warned Americans not to look directly at it Monday without proper eye protection.
EMT and ambulance volunteer Gard Ferguson suffered from permanent partial blindness when he look at a partial eclipse in the early 1960s, NBC affiliate WTHR reports.
“I remember my older brother saying, ‘Hey, let’s take a look!’ And we went out and looked up,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said he didn’t stare at the sun but did enough damage to hurt his retina.
“People can think wearing sunglasses is good enough. No. You have to have the proper eye protection. Do not look at it. Don’t look at it. It’s not worth the permanent damage of loss of vision. You know your eyes, that’s the only ones you have,” Gard told KULR.
Dr. Carl Cottrell explained the eye loss is like macular degeneration, as a result of the powerful UV rays of the sun that burn the retina.
“This little light spot there is actually permanent damage that will never come back,” Cottrell told WTHR adding that the retina cells.