Hit in eye with 1000mw 445nm blue laser

InfinitusEquitas said:

It really depends on divergence, beam diameter, and distance. A laser with good divergence even at relatively low power can cause immediate damage, where a more powerful one with a thick beam, would be relatively harmless. All comes down to power density.

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That evil focal point: :gun:

31mw laser

Damaged eyes?

wow scary stuff

and this is why i just bought a laser tripod.

this post makes me feel much better i was hit in the eye with a 263mw 650nm red laser it doesnt hurt or anything no blood vessels and it looks just fine i had someone else look at it and they said looked fine glad im not in the situation you were in. glad you didnt get any serious damage

Matrix said:

this post makes me feel much better i was hit in the eye with a 263mw 650nm red laser it doesnt hurt or anything no blood vessels and it looks just fine i had someone else look at it and they said looked fine glad im not in the situation you were in. glad you didnt get any serious damage

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You don't need 'someone', you need specialist ..
Red is somewhat safer, as it is not so well absorbed by blood filled tissues .. but still .. anything over keychain laser in your eyes - get specialist .. if it's expensive, maybe you will remember the lesson longer ..

Tsk Tsk Glasses people! I understand it's money that you don't want to spend but holding a blind person's cane the rest of your life isn't going to be fun!

This is terrifying! I only operate my lasers with glasses, but even so, eye damage is a pretty scary thought. I hope everything worked out alright for OP!

I was hit with a 20mw laser and that lasted for about a day so I know 1w would really last

Hope you've recovered all right mate.
This makes me second-guess buying even a 50mW laser. I'll be using eye protection of course but...it's still a scary thought.

What would happen if my 2.1 445nm happen to hit my fish... would he be blind?

BoxyBrown90 said:

What would happen if my 2.1 445nm happen to hit my fish... would he be blind?

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What kind of question is it ? Sure it will, if you won't kill outright.

It would probably super heat the brain instantly and kill it... Few more seconds and you will have a sautéed fish...

Just thought I would throw an update out there, as I haven't really been back to the site.

The blind spot (scotoma) has not changed a whole lot, except maybe it's a bit more diffused whereas before it had a pretty defined outline. I can't really say if it's larger, but it's definitely not smaller. I constantly have a sensation that my right eye feels slightly swollen or has higher pressure which about drives me insane, but I have been to an optometrist and the retinal specialist that performed the surgery and they both say that my eye pressure is normal and they couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, except for the scar tissue. So, I guess that's something I will just have to deal with.

I have been doing a lot of research for any treatments, but it seems the only option I have right now is to wait until we have clinical trials for stem cell injections . The Schepens Eye Research Institute seems to heading that direction, but there's no telling when or if that will ever come to fruition. I'll be honest and say that before this incident I had no idea that the tissue in your eye was incapable of regenerating like say, the skin tissue on your arm.

This has also taken a huge mental toll on me. This type injury doesn't get better with time. I am reminded of it every single minute. It's impossible to ignore a flaw the alters the way you see the world you live in every day.

I read an article where some ravers in Russia were blinded at an event from a laser projector that was pointed at the crowd that was meant to be pointed in the sky. I can't help but feel terrible for them, since i know very well how this type of injury impacts your life. I wish I could find out more about what happened to them, but since I don't understand Russian, I haven't been able to find any other information.

Since this has happened, it's pretty much ruined my joy of lasers. I have put them in my closet and haven't touched them in several months. I become sick to my stomach when I think what think about what I've done and how it was over something so trivial as a light effect.

Please, everyone, protect your eyes!

I''m very sorry .Could I ask you to draw something(1st person view) that we could understand more how you see world now with damaged eye?
Your story encouraged me to purchase laser safety goggles.
By the way are you planning to sell/giveaway/destroy/keep your lasers?

I hope that your eyes will heal.Good luck,be strong and don't lose hope!

Something like this:



The cross hairs of course represent my center of vision. I viewed this picture about 2 feet away from my monitor and did my best to draw in my peripheral vision.