Hit in eye with 1000mw 445nm blue laser

[sopark4000]

Dude that was a bummer I hope your peeper fully recovers.

I have a 1.5+ 445 on the way and your shared experience here has convinced me to buy a set of safety specs NOW

So your saying that if you hadn't read this story you would have used a 1.5W+ laser without safety glasses.


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[Guyfromhe]

Dude that was a bummer I hope your peeper fully recovers.

I have a 1.5+ 445 on the way and your shared experience here has convinced me to buy a set of safety specs NOW

Wow -.-
You should have ordered the specs BEFORE

 

[Benm]

I would not compare firearm safety to laser safety directly - with a firearm you're likely to suffer injury when hit wherever on the body, while with a laser only about 1 square centimeter is susceptible to any permanent damage.

As for avoiding lasers until you know the status of the damaged eye: I fully stand by this concept. The one good thing about eyes is that you have two of them, and you can live a fairly normal life with one of them disfunctional.

Obviously suffering damage to or blinding of a single eye -is- a horrendous thing, but losing the remaining eye will turn the outlook on the rest of your life from very reasonable to very miserable. I would seriously consider avoiding experimenting with lasers if you have one eye that is (possibly) damaged. The risk of shooting yourself blind in both eyes may be one in a million, but if you only have one left that is reduced to one in a thousand.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

I would not compare firearm safety to laser safety directly - with a firearm you're likely to suffer injury when hit wherever on the body, while with a laser only about 1 square centimeter is susceptible to any permanent damage.

That's true, however guns do not shoot continuously, and ricochet off of any reflective surface.

There is no perfect analogy to convey laser safety, but the same care as that required by small caliber handguns comes close.

 

[LaZeRz]

That's true, however guns do not shoot continuously, and ricochet off of any reflective surface.

There is no perfect analogy to convey laser safety, but the same care as that required by small caliber handguns comes close.

Do not rest a .50 cal on a table with a madman firing the trigger. :na:

 

[ekeup]

Do not rest a .50 cal on a table with a madman firing the trigger. :na:

BTW, he wasn't/isn't a madman... everyone makes mistakes, lets just learn to use protective glasses and DOUBLE/TRIPLE/QUADRUPLE check our setups.

Wish him the best of luck in recovery... I couldn't imagine having the same injury and actually posting it to the forum... He's a very thoughtful person for doing so.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Do not rest a .50 cal on a table with a madman firing the trigger. :na:

Meh... nothing works with madman. Except maybe electroshock therapy:gun:

BTW, he wasn't/isn't a madman... everyone makes mistakes, lets just learn to use protective glasses and DOUBLE/TRIPLE/QUADRUPLE check our setups.

Wish him the best of luck in recovery... I couldn't imagine having the same injury and actually posting it to the forum... He's a very thoughtful person for doing so.

He had an accident, while not using protection.

The same thing could have happened to me. In fact has happened to me... not with a laser, but I have plenty of scars to remind me of what a dumba$$ I can be, and that accidents do happen.

There is usually a thread like this that pops up every two-three months, but mods often move it and lock it down.

It's great that xoul is sharing his experience, and people are able to learn from it. I do hope he recovers, and hopefully with the damage being limited to one eye he will not suffer any truly life altering problems.

 

[Gas Can]

Xoul, good luck recovering. Whats your eye look like now? Progress report.....

 

[xoul]

Alright, so I have the patch off now. Vision is much improved, i no longer have a dark circle in the center vision, however it is very blurry - but that is expected this soon after surgery. I do have a small blind spot that is slightly off-center, but the doctor said my brain should auto correct it over time, but I will probably always have that blind spot to some degree. Only time will tell from here on out.

Thanks everyone for your kind words. I will conclude with some lessons learned:

1. Do not operate any laser over 5mW without proper safety glasses.
2. Do not place a laser on an unstable surface, even breifly.
3. If you suffer an injury to your eye, do not go to a regular hospital ER. You will waste your time and money and the doctor who has no experience with your type of injury will be unable to help you. Find a retina specialist and see them right away. Only resort to the regular ER if cant find a retina or eye care specialist near you. In my case, going to the ER only resulted in a huge copay, and I was no better off when I left than when I arrived, since all the doctor did was refer me to a retina specialist.

I hope none of you ever have to endure something like this. It's definitely not a fun experience.

 

[ferencproject]

You are so lucky it didn't completely blind you!
It could have ended much worse!

I hope it will get better with time..

 

[mark-in-dallas]

I want to thank you for posting your experience. I have copied it into PDF format and saved it.

I've also shared your experience with a few people that I've built lasers for, mainly because even after providing them with safety glasses and giving them my standard safety spiel, I don't think they TRULY comprehended how dangerous the higher powered lasers can be, or the potential for damage.

Sharing your experience with them was like sitting a teen down to watch Scared Straight!

In fact one person that was planning to build his own 1W+ laser completely changed his mind and decided that having a laser might not be as fun as he thought.

An ounce of prevention may equal a pound of cure, but a pound of consequence equals a tons of respect.

While it may be of little comfort to you right now, I am sure you sharing your experience WILL prevent someone else from suffering through the same.

My best wishes go out to you and hopes for a speedy recovery!

 

[rcmike]

3. If you suffer an injury to your eye, do not go to a regular hospital ER. You will waste your time and money and the doctor who has no experience with your type of injury will be unable to help you. Find a retina specialist and see them right away. Only resort to the regular ER if cant find a retina or eye care specialist near you. In my case, going to the ER only resulted in a huge copay, and I was no better off when I left than when I arrived, since all the doctor did was refer me to a retina specialist.

I agree. I got a piece of metal in my eye and the eye doctor told me the same thing. BTW, it was fun trying to sit still while having the rust spot ground out. After that incident I'm very careful with my eyes.

 

[Elektrotechniker]

Unfortunately xoul had to learn the hard way. I'd ask mods to sticky this thread. It really is very describable.
Hope it goes completely away friend. Let us know how it improves!

 

[joenobody]

Best of luck to you my friend, but sounds it has went as good as possible so far.

What type of surgery was it, did they use laser eye surgery?
Ironic, use the same thing that hurt you to fix it.

Maybe you can get a chuckle out of that at least.

Keep us posted.

...

 

[geeo]

So your saying that if you hadn't read this story you would have used a 1.5W+ laser without safety glasses.

Well not exactly..........

When I said NOW I meant RIGHT NOW as opposed to leaving it any longer.

My laser is still about a week away and my glasses are local.

Although I have no inclination to burn with it. I lived out all my arsonistic tendencies as a teenager.

I am an (ex) soldier with very safe gun handling skills. I still own a rifle and intend to give this laser the same respect including keeping it in my gun cabinet.

My plan is to use it solely as an outdoor long range pointer for teaching purposes.

However I appreciate accidents can so easily happen and I might just decide to photo the beams indoors...So professional glasses of a decent OD it is.

The problem I now have is knowing which laser type to buy for....Argon, KTP, YAG or will any of them that cover the correct wavelength do?

Laser Safety Solutions - Protective Eyewear: Range: Range

 

[qumefox]

Best of luck to you my friend, but sounds it has went as good as possible so far.

What type of surgery was it, did they use laser eye surgery?
Ironic, use the same thing that hurt you to fix it.

Maybe you can get a chuckle out of that at least.

Keep us posted.

...

Laser eye surgery is used to reshape the cornea.. I imagine in this case, he had a needle jammed in his eye to suck out the blood covering the retina.