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Laser burns in a boy’s eye
An easily avoidable tragedy that cannot currently be reversed once the damage is done.
Boy burns retina by staring at small laser.
A 9 year old burned a permanent hole in his retina by staring at a green laser while playing. The article goes into some detail about the risks and the FDA’s opinion on such tools- specifically the danger of the green, blue and violet lasers that people buy off the internet. Some of them are so powerful they can damage your sight within seconds of looking at them directly or from bouncing them off of a reflective surface. Its one of the many reasons it is illegal to flash them at aircraft over head and that doing so is a pretty serious criminal offense. We tend to think of them as similar to a regular small red laser pointer that people have used for years, but due to their wavelengths, the different colored lasers can burn paper, etch surfaces and yes, burn you before you realize you’ve been burnt.
Bottom line: lasers are not toys and they should only be used with close supervision and the appropriate safety gear.
