Concerned about vision

Hey guys,
I've been looking through the forums trying to find an explanation for the discomfort I'm feeling in my eyes, but figured maybe it's best to explain it in a new thread.

I'm fairly new to this as a hobby, but have read some of the horror stories of people damaging their retinas due to improper eye protection. With that said, let me explain what I've been using and a concern I'm having.

A few weeks back I had ordered an Arctic S3 1.4W which recently arrived. Prior to its arrival I had ordered a standard set of Eagle Pair 190-540nm because of some of the reviews I had read about the WL goggle reliability and effectiveness.

Now, as far as my usage; I've been extremely cautious while using the laser. My goggles always go on prior to powering it up, I haven't shined it at anything glossy or reflective. The fit of the Eagle Pair is really nice and comfortable, with just the slightest gap between my cheek area and the edge of the goggles, which I'm currently working on modifying with a piece of rubber inner tube for better coverage, as I had seen in another post here on LPF.

Long story short, last night laying in bed I began to notice my eyes felt like they were kinda throbbing, with a noticeable discomfort. I did some more burning today (the usual electrical tape, bare wood surfaces, etc) and now I'm feeling that same discomfort and soreness.

I would say I've used the laser for about a total of 15 accumulated minutes on and off since yesterday, so I would assume it's not from over usage. Is this normal even with the Eagle Pair goggles? Am I just being paranoid? I find it strange, since they do such an awesome job of blocking so much of the light. Any words of wisdom and experience would be great. Thanks! :thanks:

I get that feeling in my eyes sometimes. Even before I had my 1w laser.
I think you should be fine as long as your vision isn't clouded up or blurry for an extended period of time. But I'm not a doctor, so I won't know exactly what's going on.

I would get get checked out see what the irritation from. Better safe the sorry.

You know it's funny but now that you mention it I get tired eyes if I burn for an extended time. Nothing permanent though but it is focused light and the protective ware goes only so far for protection.
You might need something that blocks more of the light.

Team Orange07 said:

I would get get checked out see what the irritation from. Better safe the sorry.

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That's true, I guess I was hoping to hear that it's a normal side effect at first, but some peace of mind from an eye specialist would be nice.

@ VisibleGreen, so you think I should look for a pair that has less light transmission? Would a lower light transmission correspond with a higher Optical Density?
I'm one of those people that wears sunglasses pretty much anytime I go out (during the day of course...). Maybe my eyes are just a bit more sensitive, thus causing the soreness? I think I'll schedule an eye consultation either way though, just for good measure :umbrella:

Yeah get checked out and if there's no damage to your eyes then you're just more sensitive to it.

I got this off of thorlabs site:

OD to % Transmittance Conversions
0.0 - 100%
1.0 - 10%
2.0 - 1%
3.0 - 0.1%
4.0 - 0.01%
5.0 - 0.001%
6.0 - 0.0001%
7.0 - 0.00001%
8.0 - 0.000001%
9.0 - 0.0000001%

So the higher the OD is the less transmission of light

I do know that when I am focusing my 1w blue laser into a 1mm wide dot, it becomes bright yellow through my dragon lasers glasses and no longer dim like it usually is. At that point, I do have clouded vision for a short time afterwards. Sometimes I wear both glasses at the same time to reduce the brightness while burning.

@ SilverFire, Yea, I'm doing something similar now... when burning, first I put on my Eagle Pair and then I place the WL pair over that. It seems to be helping... either that or my eyes are getting used to it

ECBL said:

@ SilverFire, Yea, I'm doing something similar now... when burning, first I put on my Eagle Pair and then I place the WL pair over that. It seems to be helping... either that or my eyes are getting used to it

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Some eyes are more sensitive to 445nm blue than others.

Many possible reason for several different reactions.

For some people folllowing a bright dot of any wavelength around for a period of time will cause eyestrain and other symptoms as well.
In someone who is light sensitive, any type of light source (sunlight, fluorescent light, incandescent light) can cause discomfort. Photophobia typically causes a need to squint or close the eyes, and headache, nausea, or other symptoms may be associated with photophobia.

Is it possible there is some kind of chemical in the glasses which might cause this? A very low level of out gassing? Most plastics do that, especially when fairly new.

Encap said:

Some eyes are more sensitive to 445nm blue than others.

Many possible reason for several different reactions.

For some people folllowing a bright dot of any wavelength around for a period of time will cause eyestrain and other symptoms as well.
In someone who is light sensitive, any type of light source (sunlight, fluorescent light, incandescent light) can cause discomfort. Photophobia typically causes a need to squint or close the eyes, and headache, nausea, or other symptoms may be associated with photophobia.

Click to expand...

@ Encap, I think this might be the issue. I've heard that light blue eyes generally tend to be more sensitive to bright light... not sure if that's a fact, but I know I tend to need to squint quite a bit in bright daylight. I've been doubling up my glasses and the symptoms have certainly improved. Thanks for the reply!

Laser Project said:

Is it possible there is some kind of chemical in the glasses which might cause this? A very low level of out gassing? Most plastics do that, especially when fairly new.

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@ Laser Project, Although I'm sure there is some degree of out gassing with the new materials in the glasses, I'm almost certain that's not what's causing the symptoms... I appreciate the thought though :thanks:

Here's a cool fact,
Did you know that everyone has blue eyes?
The brown color of people's eyes are layers of melatonin that gives the eye a dark color.

You can have surgery done where they burn the iris with a laser in a certain pattern to turn your eyes from brown to blue if someone ever wanted that.

For the first week or so after surgery, the eye gets much darker but then starts to get lighter and lighter over the weeks till it is blue.
I thought that was cool.

And concerning people with blue eyes are more light sensitive, I think it might be because they have less melatonin in their eyes or none at all. But that's just a guess.

Ah, very cool. That would explain why they say all babies are born with blue eyes... eventually they get darker.
About the surgery, lol, I'll have to tell my sister-in-law about that. She's Filipina with naturally brown eyes, but wears blue contacts despite the fact they seem to give her problems. knowing her, she'd probably go for the procedure

Don't contacts block the color of the eye, or is that a myth. I could be wrong.

Wrong indeed. Just like glasses, normal contacts are transparent.

(Unless you buy these, of course)

I meant the kind that block out sun, the type that are photochromic, I'm pretty sure they're a tinted orange color to block low wavelength light, such as UVA & UVB.