Eye Damage Due to Sunlight Fatality Report

A Portland man who experienced permanent eye damage from looking at the sun during a solar eclipse in 1963 is now warning others not to make the same mistake when they view Monday’s total solar eclipse.

Louis Tomososki, who is now 70, said he was 16 when he watched a partial solar eclipse without any eye protection from his high-school baseball field in Portland, Oregon, according to Fox affiliate KPTV. He closed his left eye and viewed it with his right eye for about 20 seconds.

“That’s all it took,” Tomososki told KPTV. He now has a small blind spot in the center of his right eye, which hasn’t gotten any better or worse since 1963.

Tomososki said he worries others could experience similar consequences if they don’t take precautions during the solar eclipse on Monday, Aug. 21, which will be visible across the United States.