We’re all guilty of occasionally disregarding the warnings of scientists. Let she who has never ignored the risks and eaten raw cookie dough cast the first stone.

But this is a time to listen. Do not look at Monday’s solar eclipse without special eyeglasses that you have confirmed are safe. Do not use your typical sunglasses. Seriously.

You could permanently damage your eyes

Burning your retinas doesn’t sound fun. Take it from Louis Tomososki, who is now 70 but was 16 when he gazed upon a solar eclipse for a few seconds in 1963. It burned a hole through his retina, leaving him with a blind spot in his right eye ever since, he told KPTV-TV last week.

Humans can’t see infrared light coming from the sun, but it can cause burns that won’t heal, said David J. Calkins, vice chair and director for research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, who recently co-authored a paper in JAMA Ophthalmology about potential eye damage from the solar eclipse.