While professionals recommend you wear specialized glasses to watch the upcoming eclipse, University at Buffalo physicians are preparing for any eclipse-related eye injuries that might occur with a special post-eclipse eye clinic.

UB ophthalmology medical residents will staff the clinic, which will be open from 4-9 p.m. on April 8 at the offices of UBMD Ophthalmology/Ross Eye Institute at 1176 Main St. in Buffalo.

"We want to help the Buffalo community and visitors have a safe eclipse viewing experience, but we also want to be here for the community if there are any injuries," says James D. Reynolds, MD, Jerald and Ester Bovino professor and chair of Ophthalmology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB and president of UBMD Ophthalmology/Ross Eye Institute.

Abhiniti Mittal, MD, a UB ophthalmology resident and one of the physicians staffing the clinic, explains that while such injuries are rare, the major concern is called solar retinopathy, which is caused by looking at the sun during the eclipse without proper eye protection.

"Prolonged, high-intensity light exposure can lead to photomechanical damage to one’s retina and subsequently cause blurry vision and blind spots," she says. "In these cases, patients commonly present with vision changes a few days after viewing the eclipse without eye protection, but our clinic will be open the day of the eclipse for people with immediate concerns about their vision. Most do recover vision within a few months, but a severe injury can have more prolonged effects."

Western New York will experience totality for over three minutes, from 3:18 to 3:21 p.m., but UB ophthalmologists suggest only removing your glasses during the two minutes of peak totality, which will last from about 3:19 to 3:21 p.m.

View UB's complete timeline for safe eclipse viewing here.