Colin wrote:
my eye was exposed to laser radiation. The laser was a 20mW max output at 650 nm. I did not think anything of it at the time. Lately I have been noticing some vision problems. I seem to see faint dots that cause a glossy effect. I saw an optometrist and told him my concern. He preformed his examination and later said he saw no signs of eye diseases. He wrote me a prescription for glasses and sent me on my way. Will my vision get worse or stay the same. Should I see another optometrist or a doctor?

ANSWER

Dear Colin:
I referred your question to Dr. B. R. Chou Associate Professor at the School of Optometry at the University of Waterloo. He has done much work in the area of environmental and occupational eye safety and has had some involvement in the problems of laser flashing of drivers and pilots. Here is his response.

“Colin’s information indicates he was most likely exposed to a Class 3B laser. These are continuous output lasers of less than 0.5 W output emitting at a wavelength between 315 nm and 2500 nm. Exposure is potentially hazardous if intrabeam viewing occurs as in Colin’s situation, but the duration of the exposure is the key element. Without knowing how long his eye was exposed to the laser, it’s not possible to determine whether he was at risk of an eye injury. However, the fact that the optometrist detected no changes at the retina suggests that no clinically visible damage occurred. It is possible that there is some sub-clinical effect that gives rise to the visual phenomenon he reports, but our best available detection methods likely won’t be able to find any evidence of damage. I don’t know if his vision will get worse as a result of the laser exposure, but it is most likely that there will be no permanent effect resulting from this incident.”

I hope this is helpful.
Dr. Smit

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