Laser pointer burns boy’s eye

Laser pointer light causes permanent damage to youngster's eye. Optometrist warns of danger.

April 1, 2015

Gerald Young 2 minutes read

The photos show a comparison between a normal macula and the damaged macula of the young boy.

A 12-year old boy from Ermelo has suffered irreversible damage to the macula of his right eye after shining a laser pointer light in his eyes.

In an interview with the Highvelder, Dr Deepak Bhika, a local optometrist, said the child was brought to him on 16 March this year, complaining of sudden blurred vision and excessive lacrimation (tearing or watering of the eyes). He also experienced difficulty in seeing the keypad of his cell phone or reading.

“Upon examining the patient, I found that the macula in both eyes showed signs of burn damage, although the greatest damage had occurred to the right eye,” he explained.

The macula controls 15 per cent of one’s vision and is an oval-shaped pigmented area near the centre of the retina of the human eye, close to the optic nerve. Damage to the macula results in the loss of central vision.

At that stage it was not known what had caused the damage, as the patient was not aware of any physical trauma he had suffered and did not regard the laser light as being dangerous or worth mentioning.

The boy was then referred to Dr Marisa Willemse, a paediatric ophthalmologist in Pretoria, who specialises in retinal conditions.

She examined the youngster and confirmed Dr Bhika’s findings. Photographs of the maculae taken with the aid of a special camera clearly showed burn damage.

It was at this stage that the cause of the burning was discovered.

The boy revealed that he had been playing with the laser pointer and while he was changing the different pattern filters, the laser beam had shone directly into his eyes.

“This particular laser emits a green light which is the most dangerous of all the laser light colours. While the red lasers are less dangerous, the green lasers exceed the safety limit. Because a laser light is only one wavelength, it gives off light in one small beam of 25 milliwatts and emits concentrated heat. This coherent light can be very damaging. In this case, the child has lost the central 10 degrees of his focusing vision. In simple terms, anything he looks at at close quarters will be blurred in the centre,” said Dr Bhika.

He further explained that this kind of damage to the macula cannot be rectified by any medication or operation; neither will spectacles make any improvement to the vision in this eye. Due to the severity of his injury, the damage is unfortunately permanent. The optic nerve and retina is an extension of the brain, thus comprising neural tissue. Any damage or trauma to this area is permanent.

” The child’s left eye has luckily been minimally affected; therefore he will still be able to function normally when focusing with both eyes,” said Dr Bhika.

Laser toys, even at low strength, can and do cause severe eye injuries and even blindness.

Laser injuries usually do not hurt; in fact, it is not unusual that these injuries go unnoticed, worsening over time as vision deteriorates.

“One must follow basic rules by never pointing a laser beam onto another person, especially not at the head or directly into the eyes of another person or animal. I would like to make a serious appeal to parents to monitor the purchasing and use of laser pointers and toy lasers by their children,” said Dr Bhika.

A search on the internet has revealed that these pocket lasers have been banned in some states in the USA.