- NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - Laser pointers, commonly used by teachers, business executives
and devil-may-care teens, may strike fear in the hearts of those who believe
the laser can damage their eye.
-
- Now, a new report suggests that even when commercially-available
lasers are pointed directly into the eye for up to 15 minutes, no damage
occurs.
-
- Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota,
evaluated commercially available class 3A laser pointers having powers
of 1, 2 and 5 milliwatts (mW). To test the lasers, the researchers used
three human study participants who agreed to have the laser beam directed
at their eyes for a period of 15 minutes. Each of the participants had
previously been diagnosed with eye cancer and was scheduled to have their
eyes removed in the near future.
-
- ``Other than transient after-images that lasted only
a few minutes, we were unable to document any...evidence of damage to any
structures of the eye,'' according to Dr. Dennis M. Robertson and colleagues.
Similar after-images can occur after having a flash photograph taken.
-
- ``Our findings support the contention...that the potential
for laser pointers to cause eye damage has been exaggerated. However, more
powerful laser pointers may have a potential risk,'' the authors write
in the November/December issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.
-
- ``This is a valuable study that documents how difficult
it is to injure an eye with a laser pointer,'' said Dr. Martin Mainster,
a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, in an interview
with Reuters Health.
-
- ``The fact of the matter is that commercially-available
laser pointers are a very weak light source,'' he added.
-
- However, at a very close distance, it is theoretically
possible to damage your retina. There is at least one documented case of
an 11-year-old girl who, on a dare, held a laser pointer light within 15
centimeters of her eye for longer than 10 seconds. The girl suffered a
temporary decrease in vision for approximately 3 months and doctors documented
structural changes to her retina, according to Mainster. After 3 months,
her eye returned to normal.
-
- ``If a person were to unwisely stare directly into the
laser for a long period of time, the potential for damage exists,'' Mainster
said. But random exposure to the laser pointer light from a distance poses
no risk, he noted.
-
- SOURCE: Archives of Ophthalmology 2000;118.
-
- MainPage
http://www.rense.com
-
-
-
- This
Site Served by TheHostPros
|