Laser Googles, im NEW!

[vk2fro]

Think of the goggles as a one off investment; like most hobbies you'll have some form of one off investment. Shooters (the bright ones anyway) buy ear muffs to use when they're at the range shooting to prevent hearing loss. Motorcyclist and bicycle riders buy a helmet to protect their head in case they have an accident. A laser is just the same. It only takes ONE mishap and your eyesight can potentially be ruined.

I dont have any lasers at the moment as I sold my last one (1 Watt blue) with a set of goggles, my only set. I wont be getting another laser until I buy some more goggles.

Try seeing what its like being blinded in one eye (no dont point your laser at your face!). Put an eyepatch like a pirates patch on for a day and see how you get along. Once you've experience going a day with only the sight from one eye, those laser goggles will seem like a sensible investment.

I can tell you what its like. I lost the vision in my right eye many years ago in a car accident. Simple things like crossing the street require larger head movements as your peripheral vision is now half. Depth perception has to be learnt all over again. I can never get a pilots license, and would have great difficulty in getting a car license. I cannot watch 3D movies (that needs stereo vision too).

Theres a whole lot to lose, just to save $60, should you have a mishap with your laser.

 

[sinner]

That's a great explaination Vk2, Im gona quote this one in other posts too:beer:

 

[Dhealer]

First of all, many thanks to all for your answers.

As an alternative you can have a look at this selection: Laser goggles : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce

I read many reviews about this goggles, and they all said they are bad. They are useless, and they arent good to protect eyes. That's why I decide not to buy it :/

Anyway, I changed my mind and im going to get them.

Best regards,
dhealer

 

[Dhealer]

First of all, thanks for your fast answers.

As an alternative you can have a look at this selection: Laser goggles : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce

I didnt want to buy them because i read they are realy bad goggles, almost no protection, and they'd be useless.

Anyway, I changed my mind, and I'm gonna get some

Best regards,
dhealer

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Why in the world would you get goggles you read to be crap.

Personally I can confirm that they are in fact crap. I mean better than nothing, but by mo means something I want protecting me.

They're your eyes though... just remember you only get two for life, and right now, retinal damage is basically untreatable.

 

[daawood123]

yeah, um guys, im getting kinda freaked out. i dont mean to threadjack, but a while ago i got a 100mw green from lazerer, and now i also have a 300mw ish LPC-826 build. i have gotten 2 direct hits from my green, none from the red thank god. the direct hits i got, one was when the laser was focused, the other was when the laser was completely unfocused. both times when i closed my eyes i could see the dot in my eyelid, after a few minutes it got smaller until it disappeared. but since then i have been very very scared, im either paranoid or thinking right, i think my eyes have been damaged, like i am finding it harder to read, and slightly harder to focus on the floor say 50ft away.
like i said, i may just be paranoid, but what if im not? as far as i can tell, there is no visible blind spot, however, it might be there.

i had a pair of cheapy goggles, UVEX ones from amazon, really cheap, but i lost them time ago, and i wasnt wearing them when i got hit in the eye.

i am thinking of leaving this hobby, and selling all my lasers here in a few months. i know i might get a lot of negativeness for this, but i wont ever get new eyes, and even if i have goggles, that doesnt mean im 100% protected all the time, what if they slip and the laser drops or something.

what would you guys recommend i do about my vision? it may just be a lot of paranoia (is that a word??) but im sure my vision was better before i started in the laser hobby.

thanks for any help

 

[Zircarg]

Stay calm and don't panic. That's the worst thing you can do. If the imprint has faded and you don't see any blind spots that's a good thing. Your mind can play tricks on you and you can really psyche yourself out if you let it. If you're freaking, you can convince yourself that you're not seeing as well and you'll make yourself believe that. If you're truly that scared and you want to put your mind at ease, you should see an opthamologist.

I had laser retinal surgery a couple of times about 10 years ago because I had a bit of retinal detachment caused by karate sparring. I didn't know it at the time, but the jelly in my eyes are extremely sticky and I also have thin retinas. When they used the laser on me it kept causing other small tears around the main injury as the jelly would pull on the thin tissue. To this day I can see 2 blurry spots in my right eye caused by the laser - one at 3 o'clock and one at 6 on the far periphery of vision. Its quite noticeable - like slapping a sink full of water and seeing the shimmering pattern.

My point is, if you are not seeing any blatantly noticeable effects such as blurriness, spots that won't fade, or a blind area, you are probably ok. Nevertheless, I'm not a doctor and if you can't get your mind off it, you should follow-up with a specialist. Just don't panic.

 

[daawood123]

ahh thanks for that man, im sure its just paranoia, i cant see anything visibly wrong, but i also got hit with a ebay 5mw greenie a while ago, basicly, it was glitching, and wouldnt work properly, i stared into the aperture and could see a red light,then bam, the green started working full power and hit my right in the eye, same thing happened though, the spot faded away.

thanks for the help man, its slightly more reassuring.

 

[Bionic-Badger]

I love having the goggles because then I can work on stuff without any fear of what I'm doing. Before I got the latest pairs from the OEM recent group buy I had to drop the power of the reds to 100mW or so to safely use them. Now I don't have to worry and I can experiment all I want. So much freedom.

In the end, I've spent more on goggles than lasers, but I don't regret that fact.

 

[daawood123]

also to add, i have some floaters in my eyes (debris or something, basicly nothing harmfull, just f****g annoying, so they might be the reason im so paranoid about this vision problem

 

[ElectroMagneticFreak]

Daawood, I have those floaters as well and I agree that they are really annoying!

I especially notice them when looking at blue sky and because they are so prominent, my eyes tend to focus on them since they are in the foreground rather than what I am trying to focus on. I have had them for probably 10 years before I got into lasers and I think they are just proteins or something similar, I can't quite remember. I don't think they have anything to do with lasers though.

I have noticed one slight change in my vision since having lasers although it could just be natural eye progression. I notice that I have a bit more trouble focusing on objects closer up and noticed the other day it was hard to focus on my salad that I was eating when I was holding it closer to me.

I have been very cautious with my lasers, and probably more so than a lot of people. I have never looked at any laser dot at close range to the point of having any after images or even short after images that only last a few seconds... I also rarely use my lasers for burning up close even though I have Eagle Pair goggles.

The first time I tried burning up close with the 1.3 W 445nm I was surprised with the fact that my face felt warm as if I had a slight sunburn from the reflected light. The sensation lasted a day or so so I know it wasn't my imagination.

In addition when I tried focusing the laser with the small focus ring I know my thumb hit into the beam just ever so slightly and believe it or not but the part of my thumb where the thumb print is has been a little painful ever since which was about 3 months or so ago... I can't think of any other reason for my thumb to be hurting for that long... I don't know if it could have anything to do with the blue light hazard?

I'd be curious to know what others think about this...

 

[daawood123]

omg, you have just describes most of what im experiencing with them floaters. and yes!, i have found it slightly harder to focus on objects closer up, i was in school, and all i could hear the teacher saying was blah blah blah exams blah blah blah, so i put my head on the table, and looked at my pencil, and found it a challenge to actually focus on it properly, it was like 1cm away from my eyes, and after a while, my eyes started watering.

 

[Lase]

Eye Floaters.

I asked my doctor about this (because I suffer from HPPD) and was worried it was a symptom. But floaters are completely normal.

Lase

 

[ElectroMagneticFreak]

omg, you have just describes most of what im experiencing with them floaters. and yes!, i have found it slightly harder to focus on objects closer up, i was in school, and all i could hear the teacher saying was blah blah blah exams blah blah blah, so i put my head on the table, and looked at my pencil, and found it a challenge to actually focus on it properly, it was like 1cm away from my eyes, and after a while, my eyes started watering.

Do you wear glasses? I have a pretty strong prescription that I have had since I was about 11 years old. One thing with strong prescription glasses I find in my experience is that you cannot see objects up close as well unless you take your glasses of and look. Even though I have terrible vision without glasses if I put something very close to me without glasses I can see it really well like macro photography.

However one of my eyes is much different prescription wise so I have to close one eye and use the other otherwise I would have to hold the object at an angle so that one part of it is closer to one eye than another if that makes sense...

Also as you get older and or you need a stronger prescription it probably gets harder and harder to see up close and the distance you need to have things away from you for them to be in focus increases...

However I can still get around this by just taking off my glasses and closing one eye. :crackup:

However I have recently noticed this getting worse and I am SO careful with my lasers I can't imagine it being from that unless one of my lesser powered 532nm pens is like 30mW 532nm and 100mW IR and I am not aware of how much IR is present. Even so I take precautions for this as well so I really don't know. It could just be coincidence.

EDIT: Just had to look up HPPD.... I know someone in my family that had that from LSD from the 60's. She said it went away after a few years luckily. What is your experience with it if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Lase]

Just had to look up HPPD.... I know someone in my family that had that from LSD from the 60's. She said it went away after a few years luckily. What is your experience with it if you don't mind me asking?

Mine has been prominent for about 4 years now. Basically everything in my vision is morphing or 'breathing' constantly. If I get tired or anxious the problem gets worse but it's always noticeable. If I stare at something for a while the effect builds up until I can't make anything out. Makes soldering difficult and judging distance almost impossible. If I look at a blank white wall or piece of paper I get coloured fractals across that surface.

Lase

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

If you're ever worried about your eyes, go and get and exam!

If you have insurance especially, this is a no brainer.

Floaters could be a sign of other problems, diabetes for one, but unless the increase in floaters is dramatic, they aren't a good indicator of anything being wrong.

I've also been more and more bothered by them them over the last couple of years.

Interestingly enough, larger, vision impairing floaters are treated by lasers - used to break them up.