US President Donald Trump risked serious eye damage when a once-a-century total solar eclipse passed over the White House this week.
At first the President seemed to ignore warnings from vision care organisations including the College of Optometrists ahead of the phenomenon, warning people not to look directly at the sun.
Eventually he followed the First Lady, Melania, in protecting his eyes by putting on safety glasses with a solar filter.
The total solar eclipse was experienced across the US for the first time in 99 years this week. Its ‘path of totality’ passed through 14 US states, from Oregon in the west to South Carolina in the east.
Daniel Hardiman-McCartney, clinical adviser at the College of Optometrists, said: ‘You should never look directly at the sun during a total or partial eclipse. This is because the radiation emitted by the sun is so powerful it may cause long term harm to the retina. The safest and probably most reliable way to watch the eclipse is via a webcam stream or television broadcast.’
He also warned that viewing the UK’s partial eclipse required the same level of protection, by using the pinhole projection method or wearing glasses with specially designed solar filters and bearing the appropriate CE mark.