Child wearing eclipse glasses
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Uh-Oh! Are Your Eclipse Glasses Fake?

With the eclipse now less than a week away, people are freaking out with news that some glasses are fake. So how are you to know if yours are the real deal? Keep reading.

We wanted to address the situation after hearing from a listener. She wrote us saying they received 100 glasses for their preschool, but have now found the glasses are fake. That’s horrible, and we know there’s plenty more stories like it. There’s too many crooks so ready to make an easy buck that they’re selling junk products that could cause eye damage for people. Seriously, what the heck?!?!

Warning Signs

So how can you tell if yours are good?  First, start with common sense: where did you get them from? As you may be aware, we partnered with Columbia Eye Consultants Optometry. They’ve been giving out free glasses for weeks. If you got your glasses from an optometrist, like them, you should be perfectly fine. After all, who else would you trust your eyes with?

The next thing to check is on the glasses themselves. There should be an ISO number on there. ISO 12312 is the number you are looking for. That’s the number scientists worldwide have said is safe. (There should also be the ISO logo). 

They should NOT be bent or scratched either btw.

The Fake Eclipse Glasses Test

Still worried? Safely test them now.  According to the American Astronomy Society, with legit glasses on:

“you shouldn’t be able to see anything except the sun itself or something comparably bright, such as the sun reflected in a mirror or windshield, a sunglint off shiny metal, the hot filament of an unfrosted incandescent light bulb, a bright halogen light bulb, a bright-white LED flashlight (including the one on your smartphone), or an arc-welder’s torch.”

If you can see more than that, your glasses or viewer is probably not good. 

Finally, don’t mess around. If you think you can just take a quick peek, and are planning on bypassing the glasses, our optometrist friends all agree that’s a bad idea. All it takes is one quick second to potentially permanently damage your eyes.  You might not be able to tell you’ve damaged your eyes for days if not weeks. Why risk it when fantastically safe glasses are available for free here?  

We can’t wait for Monday’s event! Cosmo and Jax will be broadcasting live from Joe Machens Toyota and Volkswagen starting at 5:30a. They’ll be there all through the event, including the Machens “FREE-clipse” Party starting at 11:30a. Free Food! Free Parking! Free glasses! And great eclipse viewing with the best radio show in town! 

ECLIPSE SAFETY! Y107 Morning Show helps you prepare for the eclipse properly thanks to Columbia Eye Consultants Optometry.

Posted by Y107 on Friday, August 11, 2017

 

Check out more of our Eclipse safety videos here.

 

Originally published 8/15/2017

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