Floaters after partial laser eye damage, did they ever fade out with the time ?

[trussmonkey25]

Sorry for the thread necromancy but this thread appears in Google results and I thought adding information would be useful for people reading it in the future.
Just want to add that this is talking about lasers so powerful that they blow up your retina and cause pieces of it to fly around your eye. It's not damage to the fibers in the vitreous itself. Lasers in home appliance are probably not powerful enough to do this. The incident report you linked is using a YAG laser, these are lasers powerful enough to blow things up and they are used in various surgeries, so again, these are not lasers for use in home appliances and such.

More and more, you are seeing small fiber laser engravers and diode engravers. I have a 50w fiber laser coming.

 

[nlguillemot]

More and more, you are seeing small fiber laser engravers and diode engravers. I have a 50w fiber laser coming.

Yeah I suppose this forum is not just for people with normal household lasers

I think that avoiding damage to the retina or macula is the highest priority and the most likely thing to happen.

This might be unlikely depending on the style of laser, but if you get hit with a laser in the eye and you start seeing new floaters, you should go see an eye doctor right away. The reason why is because floaters can be a sign of a retinal tear. If you leave a retinal tear untreated, it can develop into a retinal detachment, which is a medical emergency that causes blindness if left untreated.

 

[trussmonkey25]

Yeah I suppose this forum is not just for people with normal household lasers

I think that avoiding damage to the retina or macula is the highest priority and the most likely thing to happen.

This might be unlikely depending on the style of laser, but if you get hit with a laser in the eye and you start seeing new floaters, you should go see an eye doctor right away. The reason why is because floaters can be a sign of a retinal tear. If you leave a retinal tear untreated, it can develop into a retinal detachment, which is a medical emergency that causes blindness if left untreated.

I been around lasers quite some time. what is a household laser? a cat toy? in the mean time / well just put up a screen to block any stray beams from my machines

 

[nlguillemot]

I been around lasers quite some time. what is a household laser? a cat toy? in the mean time / well just put up a screen to block any stray beams from my machines

I don't have a precise definition in mind. I generally mean lasers used for everyday purposes that are certified to be within some level of safety. Basically I don't expect the average laser to be able to blow up organic matter. If you do have such a laser then please be careful and get health insurance lol.

 

[Encap]

Read, Study, and Know all of what these web sites have to say about Laser Safety is a very good idea.
https://www.laserpointersafety.com/

https://www.lia.org/resources/laser-safety-information/laser-pointer-safety

https://www.lasersafetyfacts.com/

American Academy of Ophthalmology article/paper "Is Your Laser Pointer Dangerous Enough to Cause Eye Injury" see:read it here: https://www.aao.org/eye-health/news/laser-pointer-eye-injury .
The mission American Academy of Ophthalmology is to protect sight and empower lives by serving as an advocate for patients and the public, leading ophthalmic education, and advancing the profession of ophthalmology.

Laser Safety is not rocket science and is not difficult to comprehend/understand.
Don't be lazy and stupid when it comes to protection your one and only pair of eyes from possible permanent ocular damage and/or permanent blindness being a goofball doing your own version of "Jackass the Movie"with a laser pointer using it as if it is a harmless toy.
-
Laser pointers are not toys, they are dangerous devices in the lands of people with no knowledge or experience with lasers. proper laser operating procedures, and laser safety and laser hazards.
Most all laser problems seem occur when believe what they imagine in thier imagination to be true and ignore th real world., as is the case in so many areas of life and behavior. >>> Lasers safety is no different.

NOTE: See what happened to one LPF member in less than 1/4 of a second with a 1W 445nm Laser pointer , here: https://laserpointerforums.com/threads/hit-in-eye-with-1000mw-445nm-blue-laser.69469/

 

[nlguillemot]

Thanks for sharing, these articles are very informative. I didn't realize just how poorly laser safety is managed in wide society.

 

[bostjan]

I've got pretty bad floaters myself. I'd never be able to afford any sort of fancy procedure to fix it.

I don't think they have anything to do with lasers, but if they use lasers to correct them, there's probably a way that lasers could cause them. I'd be skeptical, though, that just casual laser use could randomly cause floaters.

@nlguillemot - how bad was the procedure and recovery? Were you blind for a period of time post-surgery? Are there long-term issues of which you are aware?

 

[nlguillemot]

I've got pretty bad floaters myself. I'd never be able to afford any sort of fancy procedure to fix it.

I don't think they have anything to do with lasers, but if they use lasers to correct them, there's probably a way that lasers could cause them. I'd be skeptical, though, that just casual laser use could randomly cause floaters.

@nlguillemot - how bad was the procedure and recovery? Were you blind for a period of time post-surgery? Are there long-term issues of which you are aware?

Vitrectomy for floaters is usually covered by insurance so it might be more affordable than you think.

The procedure itself was surprisingly pleasant. They hook you up to some good stuff for the anesthetic and they make an injection that totally numbs the eye, so it's totally painless except for the pinch when they turn on the IV. Other than that it's over very fast and you get sent right back home after chilling in the recovery ward for a bit. For the recovery I got 2 weeks PTO and I mainly just relaxed at home.

I had to wear an eye patch for the first couple days after the operation so I was "blinded" in that sense, but my eye itself was not blind. My vision was blurry and got progressively better until getting back to normal after about 2 weeks. I think that blurriness was mainly because of the 1% atropine drop they put in after the operation to help relax the eye (those drops last 2 weeks) and because of various things like fluctuating IOP and inflammation and the steroid eye drops I had to put in multiple times daily and so on.

No apparent long-term effects. It's been about 3 months. I recently had a check-up and everything looks good.

 

[grubesa]

Sorry for answering this late, it's quite interesting when someone continues the conversation a few years later, after so many thing that have happened in between.

I have a similar story. 2 months ago I got hit with 3r red laser a few times, few days later I got hit with a flashlight. I believe that was the day I got floaters.

I still have them today, without any other symptoms of retinal detachment.

I would like to know if this laser I named earlier can cause floaters without any other permament vision loss at a young age?

 

[dooderdo]

Hi all,

Just wanted to bump this thread and share my experience with floaters after IR laser while working in a research lab. Ten weeks ago I accidentally exposed myself to a 1040-nm wavelength, 400-mW fiber-laser source. I was about half a meter away from the fiber tip when trying to remove a connector from the end of it. I don't believe I had intrabeam viewing, but I did have my glasses off around the fiber tip (which I thought was inactive) for 5-10 seconds.

I did some MPE calculations, and due to the large divergence from the end of a fiber tip, was possibly exposed to 1 mW/cm^2 incident upon my cornea. ANSI guideline is about 5 mW/cm^2.

That night at home, I instantly noticed something different with my vision while viewing white-background word documents. The following day I noticed a few new floaters but dismissed them at first.

About five weeks ago I saw an optometrist and then an ophthalmologist who both told me my floaters were not laser related and that I would just have to deal with them. Thankfully, they also said my retina looks healthy, but I have bilateral vitreous syneresis, borderline glaucoma, and bilateral dry eye.

Has anybody else had a similar ophthalmologist experience? It is frustrating because I am 100% sure that the vision degradation I have now occurred on that night of the laser exposure. I had used my computer without issue earlier that day.

Sorry for the long message and thanks in advance for any input!

 

[RedCowboy]

>>>Warning<<<


"If you think you need medical help or attention for an eye injury or any other medical problem, you probably do."
"If you have been hit in the eye with a laser and feel you have suffered any type of eye injury as the result of an accident with a laser that may need medical opinion or treatment, go to a hospital Emergency Room and/or consult a qualified Board Certified MD Ophthalmologist ASAP.
LPF is a laser hobbyist website, not physicians, and cannot give any medical or legal advice.
No professional medical or legal advice is available or possible on LPF"

For additional information see laserpointersafety.com here:
Laser Pointer Safety - What to do if you are hit by a laser pointer or laser pen