“Don’t Look at the Sun” Says Kahnawake’s Optometrist

Don’t look directly at the sun or the eclipse today. That is the advice from Dr. Allan Spector, the optometrist who holds clinics twice a week at the Old Malone Medical Center in Kahnawake.

“My advice is stay home. Watch it on television. Don’t go outside even though there’s eclipse glasses. Many of your children, if they are going to look at the eclipse, will inadvertently look at the sun and that’s where there could be solar retinal damage. So, you have to be very, very careful out there on this day,” Spector told K1037 News. “It’s a very momentous day, yes, and very exciting for many people around on the East Coast, but I would be very cautionary. I would be very careful not to look directly at the sun. Stay indoors. that’s my advice to my patients.”

As for the certified eclipse glasses, Dr. Spector says those aren’t a guarantee against eye damage.

“The certified glasses, they say, are good, but you never really know,” Spector said. “To me it’s not worth the risk. It’s not something that we’ve all been exposed to as Doctors. But, it’s the unknown that I’m scared of for my patients and for the public.”