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- Sep 23, 2014
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Please excuse anything that might be incorrect in here, I do not know much about powerful lasers or the damage they can cause :yabbem:
I was at an outdoor (under an overhang) event on Saturday, when I rapidly turned around to stare at the dot of a laser cutter. The machine had no shielding and instead the person was trying to handout safety glasses, but I turned around quickly not knowing it was there and looked at it. Right after I saw it, I closed my eyes and turned the other direction as I already know the damaging effects of a laser. The laser itself was blue, and from looking around on here I believe it was a 1W 445nm laser, however I'm not too sure as they said its max was engraving wood and it could not cut metal. When I looked at it, it was in the process of engraving wood (with a lot of scattered light) and I was probably 10 or 15 feet away. It was not reflected directly into my eye, I just saw the very bright dot (and the surrounding light) before I quickly looked away.
For the rest of Saturday I had a medium headache and minor light sensitivity, so I wore sunglasses for the rest of the day. Sunday I felt much better, the headache was gone, but the top/back of my eye had a very small dull pain. Today, Monday, my eyes feel a little itchy in the back and they still have a small amount of light sensitivity, so I try to look away from looking directly at lights. Overall, the physical appearance of my eye hasn't changed at all, and I do not have any burn spots in my eye. The only real reason why I am worrying is the power of the laser, and my eyes are itchy/have a small dull pain in the back and I still am slightly sensitive to light.
Does it sound like I may have damaged my eyes, if so how severe? In the chance that I have to go to the optomologist, can I wait several days for an opening in my schedule, or can I make the damage worse if I wait?
Thanks!
I was at an outdoor (under an overhang) event on Saturday, when I rapidly turned around to stare at the dot of a laser cutter. The machine had no shielding and instead the person was trying to handout safety glasses, but I turned around quickly not knowing it was there and looked at it. Right after I saw it, I closed my eyes and turned the other direction as I already know the damaging effects of a laser. The laser itself was blue, and from looking around on here I believe it was a 1W 445nm laser, however I'm not too sure as they said its max was engraving wood and it could not cut metal. When I looked at it, it was in the process of engraving wood (with a lot of scattered light) and I was probably 10 or 15 feet away. It was not reflected directly into my eye, I just saw the very bright dot (and the surrounding light) before I quickly looked away.
For the rest of Saturday I had a medium headache and minor light sensitivity, so I wore sunglasses for the rest of the day. Sunday I felt much better, the headache was gone, but the top/back of my eye had a very small dull pain. Today, Monday, my eyes feel a little itchy in the back and they still have a small amount of light sensitivity, so I try to look away from looking directly at lights. Overall, the physical appearance of my eye hasn't changed at all, and I do not have any burn spots in my eye. The only real reason why I am worrying is the power of the laser, and my eyes are itchy/have a small dull pain in the back and I still am slightly sensitive to light.
Does it sound like I may have damaged my eyes, if so how severe? In the chance that I have to go to the optomologist, can I wait several days for an opening in my schedule, or can I make the damage worse if I wait?
Thanks!