Laser Eye Exposure
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
Help!! Hit with green laser pointer in eye! I don’t know what to do!!?
On Monday I was hit with a green laser pointer in my left eye from a very close range(probably 1-2feet away) It was only for about a second of exposure.
Im not exactly sure but my eye seems to be more blurry than normal. It may be that I am just imagining it but I need someone elses opinion on this!
I happened to have the same laser pointer so I know some of the specifications
Max output power- <30mW
Wavelength- 532nm(+-)10
Class III laser product
The product complies with 21 CFR (what does this mean?)
I bought this for about 30$ so its not a really expensive model.
Any help is greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks!
Class III laser product means it can do damage to your eye. Any laser over 5mW can (or over 1mW if you stare into it). The CFR thing is a US law regulating sales of lasers and basically just means the laser has the proper labeling. You can see the CFR regulation here:
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfCFR/CFRSearch.cfm?FR=1040.10
Since this laser is capable of doing eye damage (and if you are accurate about the duration of you exposure, it is not unlikely that damage was done), it is best you see a doctor. Hopefully you were not as exposed as you think you were, and hopefully the laser is not 30mW. But this is exactly the type of laser you do not want in your eye.
By the way, you should have seen the doctor as soon as possible. At this point, he may not be able to do anything for you. However, since it seems you don’t really know whether damage has occurred, it is not likely that serious damage did occur. Furthermore, this type of laser damage is likely to cause blind spots more than anything else (where the retina has a burn), so blurryness is probably not an issue. Still, only your eye doctor can tell for sure.
It’s a bit surprising that you have a class 3 laser and obviously do not know the dangers of them. Perhaps you should become a bit more educated on the topic, as there are serious risks with such devices.
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