WORLAND, Wyo. (KULR) - Monday's total solar eclipse can be dangerous to look at if you don't have the right protection.
Just ask one Wyoming man who was blinded by an eclipse 50 years ago.
Children may not have heard the warnings and adults may not believe, but you risk permanent eye damage if you look at the sun during the eclipse.
EMT and ambulance volunteer Gard Ferguson is concerned he may have to help someone else Monday, who makes the same mistake he did as a child. Ferguson suffered permanent partial blindness when he glanced at an eclipse in the early 1960s.
"I remember my older brother saying, 'Hey, let's take a look!' And we went out and looked up," Ferguson said.
He said he didn't stare into the sun, but "the damage was done."
"This little light spot there is actually permanent damage that will never come back," said optometrist Dr. Carl Cottrell.
Ferguson's optometrist was able to see into the damaged eye with new equipment.
"It's called solar maculopathy, it's a very severe thing, because it causes permanent damage," Cottrell said.
Cottrell said the effect is similar to macular degeneration. He says the sun's UV rays are incredibly strong.
"Which will burn the retina and those cells never come back," he said.
So Ferguson wants everyone to know they have to have proper eye protection, or look away on Monday.
"People 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," he said.
Cottrell says he's already seeing blindness in children in the northern Wyoming town of Worland who dare each other to look at the sun.
"They're in elementary school and they will have permanent damage," he said.