Ever wondered what retinal burns look like?

[rkcstr]

When I posted these elsewhere, it was remarked that my 'good' eye also looks like it has burns. I asked the specialist I saw about that, and she said that's just what the eye normally looks like.

Sorry to hear about that... but I'm glad you only have minor symptoms.

The dark spot you see is the fovea, the area right next to it with the vessels coming in is the optic disc (where the nerve/arteries enter, also responsible for the natural "blind spot").  It should look like a dark spot (also called macula, literally 'spot') on the retina because it's the densest packing of photoreceptors in your eye and reponsible for the majority of your ability to see.  In your "bad eye" you can see lighter spots within the fovea, which are probably due to the cells being damaged and dying.  

The good thing is that your eye and your brain have ways of coping.  The receptive fields in your retina expand to accomodate the loss (this is associated with neuronal connections, NOT cell growth) and your brain compensates to "fill in the gaps" as it does with the natural blind spot.  While not perfect, it will substantially minimize the perceivable damage, which can be a bad thing as well because it can mask deficits in your vision.

So, please all be careful with your lasers!

 

[JLSE]

From what type of exposure did this happen? Those pics are a strong dose of reality.


Up close burning, close proximity viewing, reflections? All the above???

 

[maxpcuser]

I also have burns on my retina's from a 200mw red and a 130mw green. (now I have goggles but didnt' before) before long your brain will no longer utilize those burnt out area's as much as you'd think. See, your eye moves constantly because after a rod or cone "fires" it creates a chemical that fills the synaptic gap and until those chemicals can uptake the nerve cannot see at all. So your eye does a micro movement to align on different rods and cones. You can witness this by pressing in on the outside edge of one eyeball and closing the other eye and hold it still preventing it from doing this micromovement and within a few seconds your vision will start to "grey out" this only works when you focus on one thing and don't let your eye move at all.

It will also cause a temporary headache if you do that but the effect is kinda interesting

 

[tomcat]

so were this eye damage from direct hits or from looking at the spot up close?

 

[ejonesss]

can you repost the images using tinypic or something?

it seems as imagepup went out of business or is blocked by many isps.

Well, today's your lucky day, because I've got some and pictures to boot.

My 'bad' eye, with the burns highlighted and contrast-enhanced in Photoshop:



My good, regular eye:



When I posted these elsewhere, it was remarked that my 'good' eye also looks like it has burns. I asked the specialist I saw about that, and she said that's just what the eye normally looks like.

 

[GregH]

Yes, please repost the pics.