ST. LOUIS — Google searches for "hurt eyes" spiked nationwide on the day of the total solar eclipse on April 8.
Related questions people were searching for included "eclipse eye damage," "eyes hurt after eclipse" and "solar eclipse eye damage," according to Google Trends.
NASA and doctors across the nation repeatedly warned the public about wearing necessary eye protection to avoid vision problems, but it seems some did not heed the call.
However, a TikTok post with over a million likes took eclipse eye damage claims to the next level: The poster said she got permanent pupil damage from looking at the 2017 eclipse.
"Staying inside for the eclipse (Monday) because I looked at the one seven years ago for 10 seconds, and now my eyes look like this permanently," the poster, whose eyes have different pupil sizes, said.
Is her claim true? We dug into the facts to VERIFY:
The question:
Can people's pupils become different sizes from staring at the eclipse or the sun?
Our sources:
- The American Academy of Ophthalmology
- Dr. Mark Rallo, a Pediatric Optometrist at Washington University
The answer:
No, pupils cannot become different sizes from staring at the eclipse or the sun.
What we found:
The American Academy of Ophthalmology said 1 out of every 5 healthy people has slight differences in pupil sizes. However, poster Ameliaataylorrr's pupils, which allow light to enter the eyes, are dramatically different.
The woman in the viral video has a condition called anisocoria, Rallo said. The condition is defined by pupils being asymmetric. Anisocoria can be benign or indicate a serious medical condition like a brain or nerve disease.
Experts say staring at a solar eclipse or the sun does not cause anisocoria.
We can VERIFY: The Tiktok claim is false. Staring at an eclipse or the sun does not cause the eye to have different pupil sizes.
VERIFY
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