Staring at laser, eye problems

I had a laser bar-code scanner (similar to those found in supermarkets) shone into my eyes. Instead of turning away immediately I stared right into laser scanner for possibly 1-2 seconds (you don't need to tell me how stupid I am).

The laser was a class 2, but other then that I don't know how powerful it was. The scanner seems to dispurse the laser.

This happened Tuesday evening and my eye started hurting within 15 minutes, I don't think I had any 'image burn' but I have a lot of floaters so it's hard for me to tell. I left it in the hope it would get better by itself, it didn't, visited A&E on Thursday evening, had a doctor check it over (although not a specialist), who said the eye looks perfectly healthy, she could see no reason for it to be hurting.

They made me an appointment for the following morning (today) to see a specialist, again, checked the eye over and agreed with the first doctor, the eye is perfectly healthy and there should be no reason for the pain at the back of my eye, although she did diagnose me with 'dry eye' but thought it was only so slight it wasn't worth treating. She said that a laser similar to what I was hit it should cause no lasting damage, unless stared at for a long time.

My right eye is sore at the back, also sometimes it feels like I have grit in my eye, and sometimes it feels like something is loose/floating around the inside of the eye ball.

Really hoping I can find some help and advice about this.

EDIT: Picture been added of sore eye.

I work with laser scanners all the time. My hand held scanner has a 1-3 mw 630nm-680nm red diode( I know right lol).

I've been zapped in the face many times with no damage, though I never took the time to stare into the beam.

Odds are since you've already gone to the eye Dr. and they told you there is no damage it all could be psycho-systematic hopefully.

Hope your eye feels better soon. 1-3 mw is pretty weak.

Oh welcome to the forums and the wonderful world of lasers.

Sore eyes, I hope your eyes feel better. A class 2 laser isn't much but it still shouldn't be pointed directly into your eyes. I doubt any serious damage was done. Welcome to the forum:beer:

Thank you both for the quick reply. So glad that you both have confirmed that the laser is fairly weak. Hopefully I can stop worrying about it. Hoping to get a decent night sleep, hardly slept since it happened.

Xenophobe said:

... it all could be psycho-systematic hopefully.

Click to expand...

Just for info, the correct word is 'psychosomatic' which describes a condition caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress. What the OP could be feeling is temporary eye strain.:yh:

I meant the pain was all in his mind , but thanks for the correction.

My eye is feeling better although not perfect, I have a slight blurring in the eye. Is this temporary??

Just wondering if there are any long term effects to this?

SE, you've already seen doctors. Yet your symptoms don't sound right. So do get a scan done if it persists. It should not be that bad. Don't panic or get scared with the following scanned pics of affected retina/s which is located at the back of the eye :


Btw : the pics of the laserpointers are not a good gauge of hi/lo power.

Maybe there is something else wrong.

You weren't even staring at a solid beam. 1-3mw being swept back and forth on a mirror hitting your eye from a distance ( I assume you weren't staring inches from the scanner) even over 2 sec's would leave very little energy hitting your retina.

Anything is possible but I doubt it.

What sort of scan would I require?

It wasnt far away. Maybe 12 inches.

Perhaps the next best person to consult is Xoul HERE. I don't know what's wrong and whether it's even premature at this point. According to wiki, it's called "Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy (SLO). SLO examines the eye using the confocal laser scanning microscopy for diagnostic imaging of the retina (back of eyeball) or cornea (front portion) of the human eye. They can scan for scotomas - retinal injuries causing abnormal vision. Helpful in the diagnosis of glaucoma, macular degeneration, and other retinal disorders. It has further been combined with adaptive optics technology to provide sharper images of the retina."

When in doubt get a second opinion.

Thank you both. I will contact xoul in the morning. I will get a second opinion too. Probably best to go private to be seen quicker then waiting a few weeks on the NHS.

Thought this might just have been eye strain but it hasn't cleared up since it happened. Any ideas? the picture isn't very clear but you can sort of see it.

stop smoking so much weed to get those pupils down to proper size :crackup: