Lasers and Contacts/Glasses?

[apwhitelaw]

Just wondering, I just ordered my first laser, and it's 100mW. I got a pair of goggles so that I don't make myself blind. But I was just wondering, if something just happened to go wrong, would glasses and/or contacts have any effect on the what the laser did to my eye?

For example, if I for whatever reason something went wrong and I got the laser shined right into my eye, would anything different happen to me, wearing my contacts and/or glasses, compared to a friend who doesn't have either?

Thanks.

 

[blakegriffin]

If you are asking if what would be the result from a direct hit to the eye with and without glasses. If you had glasses you would see kinda bright red flash if you didn't you would probably feel a sharp sting and get a bad head ache maybe go permanently blind.

 

[apwhitelaw]

So you're saying with glasses, it would not damage your eyes?

 

[blakegriffin]

no it wouldn't I have taken a hit from my opto 150mw with glasses and all I saw was the little red dot. may I ask where you got the laser and glasses from.

 

[apwhitelaw]

I think you misunderstood. When I said glasses, I meant a regular pair of glasses. Not safety glasses for lasers. That's why I said glasses and/or contacts.

 

[blakegriffin]

oh glasses will do near to nothing you need laser safety goggles.

 

[Bluefan]

no it wouldn't I have taken a hit from my opto 150mw with glasses and all I saw was the little red dot. may I ask where you got the laser and glasses from.

If you are not absolutely sure your laser doesn't put out significant IR then you're still screwed.

Normal glasses or contacts make no difference unless you work with UV or mid/far IR lasers. Safety glasses on the other hand should make a difference.

 

[Guyfromhe]

Also just as a side note if your not wearing your regular corrective lenses than it would actually lessen the damage as the laser would not be as well focused on your retina.. but that's not really safety advice... If you are wearing your glasses it would be the same as someone who doesn't need glasses getting shot in the eye.

 

[DrSid]

The glasses might actually make it worse. For example I can only see well at close. Anything beyond 1 meter is fuzzy. So if someone blasts me in the eye, it won't focus perfectly on retina as it would if I had perfect sight .. or glasses.
Still it's pretty weak protection .. in simple terms, there will be no difference.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

Did an experiment out of curiosity a couple months back, with an LPM and a pair of my old prescription goggles.

The glasses have polycarbonate lenses, and iirc those were -1.75.

At most I saw a ~10% reduction in terms of output, and that was with a 405nm laser.