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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Accidentally hit in the eye with Ebay laser?

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I bought a 5mW green laser from Ebay and i shined it on an overhead mirror but didn't pay attention and it shot me in the eye. I jolted back by closing my eye, when I opened it there was a giant green-grey blob, it went away after about 35 seconds.

I was wondering if I had done permanent damage to my retina? It isn't IR filtered. Also I have a 150mW green laser and I'm incredibly careful around it, just bought that weak one as a comparison.
 





Razako

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Can you link us to the laser you bought? Most of them are in the 20-50mw range, but some can go much higher. Unfortunately ebay sellers commonly lie about the output so that 5mw is likely much higher.
 
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hi,
try creating your first thread about some thing useful like a build or a particular diode. This is non sense kid your first thread and you did a stupid thing. haven't you read about laser safety i guess not. go back to safety classes then come back and talk about some thing useful . get protective glasses first before you buy another laser. sorry hope your ok but just tired of senseless antics .
 
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hi,
try creating your first thread about some thing useful like a build or a particular diode. This is non sense kid your first thread and you did a stupid thing. haven't you read about laser safety i guess not. go back to safety classes then come back and talk about some thing useful . get protective glasses first before you buy another laser. sorry hope your ok but just tired of senseless antics .

It'd be a pain in the a$$ for new members but I vote for new members to have to be approved before being active, and have certain prerequisites such as things like age, location, your laser experience, and maybe even your reason for coming to the forum. It seems that since all the eBay cheapos have became so popular, at least half of all of the new members first posts are things that have already been asked literally hundreds of times.
And I know the more seasoned members have said that theres always been spammers around but recently it seems that there has been a influx of both spam and a crazy amount of questions that apply to eBay "5mw" laser pointers.
 
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Hi K,
I understand what your saying but this forum is opened to just about ant one. some buy these cheesy lasers and think hey i'll join a forum and then all the ridiculous threads start coming. Before i came to LPF i bought all the equipment that i needed to build and read a lot about safety and building a unit. Then by joining i learned a ton of great things here to help me achieve my goals and a load of awesome folks. Well screening a new member will not happen so sit back and enjoy all the great threads with NO non sense LOL !!!

Rich:)
 

Pman

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I doubt there's anything wrong as it sounds like you had a normal blob that went away and you can get those from normal light flashes. If you dont seem to have any issue after that then I wouldn't be very concerned. If you are still concerned then there's no litmus test. Have to see an eye doctor.
 

Razako

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These threads are definitely pretty frustrating. We seem to get one every week or so "Help I hit myself in the eye with cheap ebay laser". First off, they make the community look bad. Secondly, all we can really do is say that "you're probably fine", but without knowing the power of the 'cheap ebay laser' there is no way of knowing. If it was actually in the 5-10mw range it probably did no damage at all. If it was higher then there might be some slight damage. We can't tell though. The only way to know for sure would be to meter the laser or go to an eye doctor.
 
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Hi K,
I understand what your saying but this forum is opened to just about ant one. some buy these cheesy lasers and think hey i'll join a forum and then all the ridiculous threads start coming. Before i came to LPF i bought all the equipment that i needed to build and read a lot about safety and building a unit. Then by joining i learned a ton of great things here to help me achieve my goals and a load of awesome folks. Well screening a new member will not happen so sit back and enjoy all the great threads with NO non sense LOL !!!

Rich:)

I know, a guy could sure dream though right!? Lol even if this forum had stricter rules it will never fix stupid and therefore some people will over ask the same thing whether it is a useless question or not. And I say useless because of the emptiness of their questions, 9/10 times multiple questions have to be asked back to the OP in order to help them. It seems like having these types of threads is giving off a bad vibe as well like Razako said.

To be quite honest, the same thing being asked isn't what gets me. It's the time and energy that people take to setup an account, think of a question, post it, and then wait for a members answer back for something that can be had on Google with minimal effort, and really with minimal information. Give Google 3 words in a 10 word question and I can bet you will find what you need in the first couple search pages. It's a great tool!!
 
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Hi,
As Raz said in one word frustrating oh i just did something really dumb.. Really dude no you didn't. and it also will not make things better for us if the wrong people read this and blow it up. I come to a conclusion here, the folks who make these similar threads must all be related in the gene pool.
@ Letusroll,
When your eye gets better and i hope it does make a thread about the WL of your new laser and compare it with other threads on the forum. Use the search at the bottom tons of info you can relate to on lower power pens. We don't mean to hack on you but we see to many issues like this . Glad to have you here anyhow at LPF.

Rich:)
 

GSS

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Also seeing there is no response. So that just throws a bunch of theory's in my head:thinking:
As we are on the subject it sure makes a difference when someone even says just a few words about themselves. Thank you's and politeness can go a long way and it seems lately those are even going away.
 

Razako

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Also seeing there is no response. So that just throws a bunch of theory's in my head:thinking:
As we are on the subject it sure makes a difference when someone even says just a few words about themselves. Thank you's and politeness can go a long way and it seems lately those are even going away.
There's always the possibility we just got trolled:tsk:
 
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hi,
Troll or not i want to thank all of you guys, and i say thank you . Hey it was nice trading view and opinions , hey it got us together to swap BS among cool members LOL !
And the skank that started this thread is in a dark lonely corner some where lurking about, try to find a bridge to hide under. hey a good bridge is hard to come by now a day's.

Rich:)
 
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You guys are not being helpful at all.

It really makes no difference if someone has 20 posts and fills his whole profile before posting - that means absolutely nothing on the internet, for all you guys know everyone with an introductory thread could be flat out lying.

It's a lot better if clueless newbies find this forum after an accident and ask questions here - and receive decent answers - then if they keep being clueless newbies doing dumb stuff. After all if they take their time to sign up they are probably legitimately worried!


So, to answer OP: it seems very unlikely that your laser was above 150mW, which means it would have to be very precisely focused to burn your retina (150-300mW is the 532nm power used to mend small retinal tears, and the laser has to be focused through a lot of optics to do that). If you actually saw a blob and it went away quickly it's very unlikely you got permanent damage.

Things to watch for: persistent headaches, floaters and, obviously, blind spots. If you got none of that you probably shouldn't worry. If you got that go see an eye doctor (a retina specialist if you can find one).

Next time be more careful where you point your laser and when you use anything above 100mW be sure to wear proper laser goggles.
 
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GSS

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Yes it can be agreed. It could also get confusing to the whole story.
How did he find or hear about the forum to ask for some help. If he knew about it already he must of lurked an seen the many threads on the subject. If someone told him about it they might have knowledge on lasers and could of helped.
Of course I care for his well being and can see opening up and starting a mini bio about himself wasn't right for the moment as he needed some answers. The none response to members help is what got me questioning.
Yes lets hope at least he reads your suggestions.
 
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Yes lets hope at least he reads your suggestions.

Common now let's be real, it was a trigger happy inpatient kid who wanted other people to hand feed information to them, they got too impatient with LPF and its members to answer back so they ended up doing a quick Google search and found exactly what they needed. Probably in the other hundreds of threads on LPF that are almost mirror images of this thread.
Thanks troll
 
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Razako

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The guy hasn't even replied back. Pretty sure it's just a troll who wanted to rile everyone up.
 




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