Green laser pointer can cause eye damage

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Green laser pointers are readily available in stores and on the Internet. Class 3A green laser pointers are increasingly being used by amateur astronomers to pinpoint objects in the night sky and by the construction industry and architecture educators to point out details of structures in daylight.

Dennis Robertson, M.D., Mayo Clinic ophthalmologist, conducted investigations with a green laser pointer directed to the retina of a patient’s eye - scheduled for removal because of a malignancy.
The exposure was 60 seconds to the fovea, the center of acute vision; five minutes to a site 5 degrees below the fovea; and 15 minutes to a site 5 degrees above the fovea. Color photographs were taken of the eye before and after exposure to the laser.

The green laser damaged the pigment layer of the retina, although it did not cause a measurable decrease in the visual function of the patient’s eye. it is believed that longer exposures could harm vision.

Posted in: Health, Laser, Retina