Eyes hurt after use?

I ordered a 5mw astronomy laser from amazon.com

I was playing with it for about 5 minutes pointing it at the sky and in the house ( not near reflective surfaces) After i was done, i noticed my eyes felt slightly weird, just sort of like i was looking at too-bright lights for to long. I never shined it in my eye or anything, so is this normal at all. Am i ruining my eyes without safety glasses? I read on this website that 5mw are ok for no glasses.

My mom, who has sensetive eyes, says just looking at it hurts her eyes (though i know she's exagerating) So, just to make sure, we're not ruining our eyes or anything just by looking at it, are we?

It's fine. It's a very common after affect, especially if this is your first laser pointer. I remember when I built my first blu-ray laser it caused me headaches and took me a while to adjust to the light source.

You are not ruining your eyes, it is just an effect the laser has on you, and it takes a while to get "immune" to it.

The 5mW greens can be more than 5mW so if its really an overspec, you should probably find out how much and wear goggles accordingly
or stick to what bobaha said n wait for the immunity, but i recommend finding out the real output first n not risking potential eye damage

It is fairly normal (even worse if your looking at a bright green light in the dark outside) Don't worry about it too much but just don't do anything stupid like getting it in your (or anyone elses) eyes. If it does bug you too much you can get a cheap pair of goggles which will make it less intense to look at, or just look at the beam and not the dot.

If the lasers are really 5mw then it is probably just everything you have been told about how dangerous lasers can be making you think things. I get that a lot with my invention.

Remember, lasers are just light. Like a lightbulb. If someone turns on a light and you aren't adjusted to it it can make your eyes hurt too.

Also your retinas don't have pain receptors so you don't feel it when you burn your eyes...

It could also be eye strain if you were looking at it for a long time.. Your working your iris quite a bit adjusting from the dark surroundings to the bright light (from one extreme to another) and also lens muscles trying to focus on a small point...

Guyfromhe said:

Also your retinas don't have pain receptors so you don't feel it when you burn your eyes...

It could also be eye strain if you were looking at it for a long time.. Your working your iris quite a bit adjusting from the dark surroundings to the bright light (from one extreme to another) and also lens muscles trying to focus on a small point...

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I was not aware that retinas don't have "pain receptors".

I would be curious to find out what that unpleasant sensation was back when I detatched my retina?

madog said:

I was not aware that retinas don't have "pain receptors".

I would be curious to find out what that unpleasant sensation was back when I detatched my retina?

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Just your imagination :na:

You would have to ask a doctor but I am guessing it's something similar to the way your brain doesn't have any pain receptors in it but you can still get a headache. The pain / unpleasant feeling probably was not comping directly from your retina...