Authorities and healthcare professionals from Australia are sending a warning to parents from every country in the world – laser pointers can be extremely dangerous!
The ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) has shared information about a teenager from Tasmania that has lost more than 75% of his vision due to direct exposure to a laser pointer while checking its features. That’s why optometrists are trying to alarm parents about the possible negative outcome related to this gadget that many people believe is just a simple toy.
The aforementioned teen had permanent damage to his eyes made by a laser pointer that can be found in regular stores.
Ben Armitage, an experienced optometrist from Australia was the first doctor who was asked to find out why this 14-year-old teen is experiencing problems with his eyesight.
According to Armitage, the teen visited his office with his parents a few days ago and said that he was exposed to the laser pen’s light for a very short period of time.
Unfortunately, this brief exposure led to the permanent loss of about 75% of his eyesight in both eyes.
Armitage says that the burns made by the laser are clearly visible on both sides of the back side of each of the eyes. Basically, the teen damaged his retina located in the back of the eye close to the macular area.
Even though the teen has not experienced any pain, his vision experienced problems right away.
The bad news is that this area is where the detailed central vision is located and that’s why he has suffered such a huge loss of eyesight.
According to Armitage, this extensive damage caused to both of his eyes can’t be solved with the help of glasses.
The eye is a very complex organ and most of the usable vision is concentrated in a very tiny area. The doctor compared our eyes with a camera. If the film camera is not working properly (if it’s broken), the quality of the lenses can’t affect the final outcome because the broken sensor can’t be repaired.
The Center for Devices and Radiological Health which is part of the FDA says that a laser with a power of only 5 MW can lead to serious damage and lasers that have power between 3 and 5 MW are safe. The vast majority of laser pointers found on the market in the USA are following these regulations.
However, there are laser pointers that are not imported properly and don’t follow these regulations. So, be careful when you are buying these products, or don’t buy them at all.
Via David Wolfe
