just came back from a good evening with friends, i was walking in the street with my girlfriend when some idiots shined a green laser directly at us from a car.
The car was 20 meters away from us and the green spot was like 10 centimeters big on the wall just behind me.
Everything seems ok, little headache ( maybe the fear from being blinded ) no big hole in my eyesight but i was wondering what could be the dangerousness if the laser was not a small one ?
Im sure the flash was short because your eyes would have closed through reflex. Just monitor your vision, if you notice ANY issues go to see your optometrist/doctor. Don’t ask for medical advice on the internet!
I would get your vision tested. Our brains do a lot to compensate for defects in our vision, so you might not notice unless you do specific tests. You're probably fine though.
I dont mean to call you out but that statement could potentially get someone into some trouble… Any laser over about 25mW is so powerful it can cause damage so instantaneously that your blink reflex can not protect your eyes (your blink reflex is considered to take just 1ns, thats 1/1000th of a sec).
OP, I would consider having her go see an eye dr, they will be able to look as see if there was any damage done, even if she doesnt feel like there was it’s still not a bad idea. If there was damage the sooner its detected the higher likelyhood of it being able to be fixed / atleast stopped from getting worse.
The laser color you’re describing sounds like it was
either a 520nm or 532nm (Green) laser that those
people flashed at you. When you got flashed or now
are you seeing any type of spots in your eyes? If
you are seeing anything that’s not normal, get your
eyes checked out.
I feel for you on this one. It was likely some kids that don’t know the dangers of what they are playing with. Keep a eye (no pun intended) on the news stories and see if any kids have their eye sight damaged by lasers. Likely they will be your culprit.
I would also report it to the local authorities. I know a pilot friend who says they really really go after anyone who does it to a air plane. I imagine they would take your incident serious too.
Good luck & your english is just fine! Especially when you compare it to my French. Only French I am familiar with is Fries. And they aren’t even French! Merci!
Also, if you think it might happen again, get some safety goggles. I forget which color lens blocks which laser color. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will answer that.
I don’t think you should take this situation lightly if you have a headache. It may just be a coincidence that you developed a headache at this time, or it may be stress or fear as you suggested. But you’d be better off getting checked, as well as everyone who was with you, probably.
Just for the record, I had my eyeballs burned by a big, scary LASER on purpose. That includes the distinct smell of burning tissue. It improved my vision to a remarkable degree. The procedure is called LASIK and it’s done all the time.
Your OP title is a little misleading. Were you actually blinded, or did you just overreact. There are different kinds of “blindness”… “Flash blindness” happens frequently and passes fairly soon — like when someone takes your picture or you’re playing with your BLF flashlight & you can’t see for a moment afterwards. If you can go into a dark room and still see the beam, or see “blobs” when staring at a plain white wall, you still have to ask yourself if those defects were there before, or did the LASER cause them.
The only way you can be sure is to go pay an Ophthalmologist to examine your retinas carefully looking for signs of damage.
The headache is more-than-likely due to stress, as eye damage doesn’t tend to hurt much. Ask me about the collection of “floaters” I see from my work as a welder… When welding, we would get arc burns on the surfaces of our eyes, caused by the intense UV emitted by the arc, but that was functionally equivalent to sunburn on your skin. The actual point of the arc would cause spots which I still see today, but they didn’t hurt.
SMH @ halo….you know nothing about lasers and its obvious from your comments. Cheap lasers are normally the worst since they are slapped together and WAY overspec. Add on top of it that its not IR filtered and you have a very dangerous package.
Just for your own information, anything ober 5mW is harmful to your eyes, doesnt matter if the beam is focused or not. Your eyes cant blink fast enough to protect them from anything over 5mW
As stated, check your vision and if you notice anything amiss, go to the doc. Lots of pilots and flight attendants have to seek medical treatment for eye-related injuries just because of kids shining lights up at aircraft. Happens every year. These things should be illegal, I swear.
Good sensible advise, not so sure on the banning them though, some people have a genuine use for them, or are a hobby, much like flashlights are for us
Many more people are injured or even killed by kitchen knives and utensils
Should we ban those ?
Banning stuff never works, as history has shown
Far better to educate people to the dangers and have very very stiff penalties for misusing them
Flash blindness is nothing to worry about, but, BUT if any spots in vision persist for a long time, over half hour/hour, get to an ophthalmologist right away. An optometrist would also be able to dilate your eyes, or use specialized equipment to view your retina to asses if there is damage, but would not be able to do much if there is damage, so an ophthalmologist would be the better option.
Most likely the laser in question was a cheap green, and diverged enough by the time you were flashed with it, that it didn't do any damage. That said, retinal damage is cumulative, so repeat exposure can be an issue.
In the event the retina was burned it's important that the damage be minimized - the burned tissue swells and can damage the surrounding tissue, so the most common treatment is with anti inflammatories. If it's a very severe hit, blood may need to be drained from the eye, and other treatment after that. Though there shouldn't be any pain, the damage from a severe exposure would be very obvious.
With regards to legalities, outright bans never work, and consider how many more people are killed through massive kinetic trauma by thousand pound weapons we all have access to on a daily basis. Education is, and will always remain the better option.
That's excellent news! Irritation is not at all uncommon from people rubbing their eyes hard after.
