Hi Dr. Hagan,
Hope you are doing well. I accidentally started at the reflection of the sun in the reflective lid surface of my washing machine at home (without sunglasses - the washing machine is outdoors). The lid is a black tinted, shiny surface that I can see my face in (its reflective). It was 2 pm in the afternoon.
The stare lasted for 2-3 seconds at max - I started seeing a spot in my left eye and looked away immediately - the spot dissipated completely after 30-60 seconds. After that I had no pain or irritation - some uneasiness in my left eye but I can't be sure if it's my brain playing games.
I do not want to go down the spiral of anxiety and psychosomatic symptoms - can you kindly advise if this 2-3 second stare into reflection of the sun at 2 pm was a risk to any retinal damage? Or I should ignore and move on?
I take good care of my eyes otherwise, wear sunglasses outside, eat a good diet and exercise too.
Thanks once again for your valuable time.