In Switzerland, a laser with a power of 150 milliwatts has caused serious damage to a boy’s vision. The 15 year old boy had purchased the laser thinking he would burn a hole in his sister’s sneakers and pop balloons.
Later, he became more adventuresome and decided to create a laser show, using it in front of a mirror. In the process he zapped his eyes several times with the laser beam and lost some vision.
The boy’s left eye was so badly damaged he could not count fingers more than a metre away. An eye examination showed a dense retinal haemorrhage in the left macula. He had also lost some vision in his right eye.
A four months’ healing process helped the boy regain some of his eyesight but he continued to have blind spots in his vision due to the destruction of cells in the retina, the back part of the eye.
Most lasers are not high-powered, having only an output of five milliwatts and those in the range of one milliwatt are usually considered safe. While it is ‘generally’ believed that laser devices powerful enough to damage the eye are only available to the military, consumers should be aware that lasers available to the public can be dangerous, especially when played with by children.
