Swiss pointer incident msnbc got it wrong!

[LSRFAQ]

HERE YA GO: BOTH EYES

HE DID NOT tell his parents and TRIED TO HIDE IT.

MORAL, Getting treatment sooner could have got him more sight back!

MMS: Error



Despite the link saying error, it will work.

Steve

 

[JLSE]

Poor kid man... We all do stupid things at such an age
and as we get older we realize how stupid they actually were.

Hes gonna have to live with this for the rest of his life,
granted no operable solution becomes available in the next
couple of decades..

No matter what the circumstance, weather it was in fact an accident
or some dare with his friends, you cant help but feel sorry for him.

Just plain sad.

 

[Kulhu]

If stem cell research comes along they might be able to repair this at a hefty price.

 

[mewrox99]

Sad story

I think cases like this are gonna be on the rise, especially thanks to the media advertising the Arctic as a irl lightsabre. Chances are some kid will buy one and brag that he has a lightsabre, fool around with and get a reflection (or get chronicly exposed to 445 and become colourblind) and the POS 'safety' glasses that wicked lasers provides won't provide much protection.

Worse yet, I think we will shortly hearing about some 10-16 year old kid getting a direct hit from playing with his 'lightsabre'

I think all >5mW lasers should come with a mandatory A4 piece of paper warning about the dangers. Then the anti-laser people can't say the victims weren't warned and taught it was a toy

 

[Blu lase]

That is very sad. And hope it's a lesson to people especially the idiots that want yo point there 5mw in there eye to see what happens. The unfortunate thing is there still going to do it and I hope for there sake it doesn't do the same.
And I agree they should have an A4 page of warnings.

Blulase

 

[Benm]

Well, from the NEJM arcticle:

Neither the owners nor the potential victims of such dangerous “toys” can distinguish harmless laser pointers from hazardous ones, and we may see more such eye injuries in the near future.
[/qoute]

I'd say the class-3B warning label would be a clue

 

[hydrogenman15]

It's to bad he didn't tell his parents right away, there are things you can do to keep the damage from getting worse or in some cases even heal your eyes somewhat. I got hit in the eye by some jerk a few months ago. http://laserpointerforums.com/f53/struck-green-vacation-55080.html
I went to the eye doctor after it happened and he said that there didn't appear to be any damage (thank god).

--Hydro15

 

[Benm]

Its a sad story, but thats how kids are. He must have figured his parents would take his laser if he told them (which they probably would), so he took the chance to let it heal on its own.

I think its not uncommon for kids to hide injuries they sustain doing something arent supposed to, and it most cases it doest matter that much if you ignore something for a few weeks. Even a broken bone can often be mended after a couple of weeks with a fully functional result (or at least as good as when you operated on it right after the injury), but the eye is an exception.

 

[davidgdg]

A couple of points:

1. The injuries were actually minor and his vision subsequently recovered almost to normal. The report states that after four months, the boy's vision had improved to 20/32 in the right eye and to 20/25 in his left. This is virtually normal vision.

2. I have my doubts as to whether this was an accidental exposure. The report states that "he was playing with his laser pointer in front of a mirror to create a “laser show,” during which the laser beam hit his eyes several times." A single accidental exposure in one eye is plausible, but several exposures in both eyes seems unlikely. I suspect there may have been element of deliberate sustained exposure. In which case, some degree of injury is not surprising. If this had been a single momentary exposure to a reflected 150mw beam, I doubt the boy would have noticed any effects.

 

[mewrox99]

I doubt you can accidentally be exposed several times

As far as I know a direct mirror hit of 150mW even momentary can cause damage usually in the form of a small spot

 

[Benm]

It think its possible to get 'accidental' hits serveral times, if you are stupid enough... pointing a beam around in front of a mirror would be quite likely to hit you in the eye several times, but who would continue after the first hit?

 

[mewrox99]

Imo, after the first hit it's hardly an accident.

It's hardly an accident to begin with. You'd have to be pretty stupid to shine a 150mW into a mirror

 

[davidgdg]

I doubt you can accidentally be exposed several times

As far as I know a direct mirror hit of 150mW even momentary can cause damage usually in the form of a small spot

I'm sure it would be possible, but if the beam were moving rapidly around then the exposure would be very brief indeed (perhaps a few milliseconds). This is one reason why quite high powered lasers in discos still don't cause eye damage. Also of course, a small superficial retinal burn would probably not be noticeable anyway. It's only a guess, since there isn't much data on these sorts of questions, but I can't help but think that the extent and size of the original burn in his left eye (see the report) was caused by something a lot more than just an accidental momentary flicker from a moving beam! But I admit it is pure speculation since the report doesn't give enough detail. And 15 year old boys don't always tell the truth.....