High Powered Handheld Laser Pointers Can Cause Serious Eye Injuries

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Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Article Date: 09 Jun 2010 - 10:00 PDT

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In an article in this week's British Medical Journal (BMJ), doctors warn of the dangers of serious eye injuries caused by high powered laser pointers. Laser pointers have many uses, from creating impressive and dynamic photographs, in astronomy to better focus miles into the night sky, to help the military or sports people hit their targets when shooting or firing. Laser pointers are also used in entertainment; they can bring new life to the dance floor.

Dr Kimia Ziahosseini and team, from the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and Manchester Royal Eye Hospital (both in England) describe the case of an adolescent who presented with *central scotomas (dark spots) after he purchased a green diode laser pointer over the internet and shone the laser beam into his eyes while playing with it.

His visual acuity was poor and tests revealed burns to the surface of the eye and disturbances to the retina, the light sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. Eight weeks later, his visual acuity improved; however, some retinal damage (damage to the retina) remained.

The doctors warn that even though lasers generally cause only a transient after-image, they can lead to long-term damage, and visual loss later on in life.

The authors write that the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) has received no previous reports of such injury from laser pointers.

The HPA advises that laser products sold to the general public for use as laser pointers should be restricted to devices with laser power less than 1 Milliwatt (mW), in accordance with the British Standard, and be accompanied by sufficient information on their safe operation.

Letters - Laser eye injuries
"Maculopathy from handheld green diode laser pointer"
Kimia Ziahosseini, specialist trainee¹, John P Doris, specialist registrar², George S Turner, consultant vitreoretinal surgeon^2
1 St Paul's Eye Unit, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool L7 8XP, ² Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Manchester M13 9WH
Published 8 June 2010, doi:10.1136/bmj.c2982
BMJ 2010;340:c2982

*According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary:

A scotoma is An isolated area of varying size and shape, within the visual field, in which vision is absent or depressed.

A central scotoma is A scotoma involving the fixation point.

Writtten by Christian Nordqvist
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