In a news report today, a kid has permanent eye damage after looking at Laser pointer.
No protection glasses, no view. I’m still selling mine if anyone is interested 
I thought the kid was going to be really young, surprised he was 14.
I wonder what power it was, espicially since 1mW is the legal maximum.
The interesting details are missing: what was the optical power of the laser pointer, what colour, and how long is a 'brief moment': forcefully keeping the laser pointed in his eyes makes a different story than if it accidently shined in his eyes and the damage was done before the eye-reflex closed the eye-lids.
I think it is 5mw, at least in our country is.
The lasers that come in our country illegally that are sold massively on markets worldwide are green and about 50mW. In my experience (I work in a school where these lasers are handled by careless children) accidental exposure of eyes with this type of laser (normal response: eye-lid reflex plus looking away) does not do permanent damage.
I think the key point here was eyes (plural) that does not happen on accident.
This will be tasteless, but…(sounds like a candidate for the Hellen Keller award)
Another variable, (an an important one) is what colour was the laser. If one of those UV/Purple ones then even a smaller 1mW is bad news.
Although in Australia 1mW is the legal max, there are plenty around much higher than that.
I have one (green) in the USA that has the key switch and claims to be 5mW. Damn thing can shoot nearly 3 miles.
If you have kids/grandkids and have one of these, disable it and put it in the trash NOW.
Yep, those lasers do damage if you do stupid stuff with it. But there's so many of these lasers around now, and so few reports of real permanent eye damage that I'm not really alarmed.
Not necesary, you first need to explain the dangers.
Well I remember back in like 2009 I was looking at getting a 1w laser and apparently it was still legal here so there could be some powerful ones floating around !
I cannot confirm nor deny that I have one stronger than 1mW. 
It would be much better if guns were banned, but hey, they aren’t dangerous i guess.
+1
I think this needs further investigation. Given the size of the spot from a laser pointer, surely it's a pretty special effort to "accidentally" burn both eyes.
Always smart to be careful with these lasers but I don't see how any amount of legislation can prevent the occasional incident like the one described here.
last december a 12 year old boy was playing wit a green laser - sold as “cat toy”
the beam reflected from a mirror or shiny surface and hit his eye - the boy lost 60% of his vision the doctors said.
never ever have a laser around where kids could get them!
You don’t want to go there on banning firearms… I would caution you bringing up that topic, as it’ll get this thread closed very quickly. With all of the cultural and national variations we have here, that’s asking for a total $hitstorm.
High powered lasers are like anything else that is potentially dangerous: use proper safety equipment when operating. You use a safety belt when driving, you sheath a knife or place it away from where it can do harm, you keep loose fitting clothing and long hair away from the wood chipper, and likewise, you wear wavelength specific safety glasses when using lasers.
Retina burns in both eyes is no accident… kid was screwing around and being dumb, and sadly, now he has to pay the price for that stupidity. Parents are also partially to blame.
Lasers could be banned for all I care.
Make them obtainable only for scientific research and gun owners with permits for laser accessories for their guns.
Problem, partially, but solved.
Kids will always play with them, even my little 6 yo relative asked for one for Christmas because she liked how her dog went crazy chasing that green dot ;)!
As others have already said, this article and what the author/doctor/boy are trying to claim seems unlikely. I don’t know much about the potential for vision loss, so I can’t comment on whether a “brief moment” is long enough to cause permanent damage, but I can see in the picture that was posted in the article, that there was more than just one burn. That means that in that “brief moment” the laser moved, making it even more “brief” of exposure to each spot. Not only that, but the article indicates that both eyes were affected, splitting that “brief moment” into even smaller pieces of time. Either the laser was powerful enough to cause permanent damage nearly instantaneously, or the “brief moment” was a fair amount longer than what I’d consider “brief” to be. :~
Edit: On the subject of banning lasers. I don’t think an outright ban is reasonable, but making it so that kids can’t legally obtain them makes a lot of sense. Where I am, alcoholic drinks (beer, wine, etc.), cigarettes, guns, cars (well, driving anyway) are all prohibited for anyone under a minimum legal age. I don’t mind adding lasers to that list. I am firmly against banning them outright.
i think the danger is that that “shiny things with the tiny spot” do not look dangerous…
a child is told that a knife can cut, that fire burns and to look out for cars - but lasers are not part oft usual parenting.
Zero information about the laser in the report. As usual.
Is it possible that it was an accident and hit both eyes, yes. He could have been spinning the laser on a table top where the laser could scan across both eyes if he bent down or spinning on a higher piece of furniture. He could have been aiming it at hanging glass chandelier, wind chimes, mini discoball or other freely rotating glass, metal or mirrors that could have scanned the beam across his face. He could have been trying to build a DIY time tunnel, spirogram, or liquid sky generator which involves using rotating mirrors to scan the laser across an area. Liquid sky & time tunnels are awesome to a 14 year old. Lots of youtube examples and DIY plans, ideas. But is an accident that scanned both eyes really the most likely cause? I think not.
My best bet, he flashed the beam right into his eye or aimed a reflected flash into his eye “to see what it would be like”. Now there is certainly a form of painful discomfort from intense light but the retina actually has no pain receptors. So you get a form of pain from the brightness but it stops after the flash, as soon as you move the light move away. The burning flesh of you retina… no pain. Sure you have “flash blindness” but that’s to be expected. Your vision always takes a moment to come back from flashes. H) No pain, no harm! Lets flash the other eye! :party:
Moments later, “flash blindness” fades to reveal blurriness. Eh, that will go away with a little more time. Hours later…. vision has only become worse due to swelling at the retina. Kids tend to feel invincible. And depending on the kid, add the common sense of a stump. Plus not much more forethought or self control.
And yes, one nearly instantaneous flash can burn a hole in your retina This is what happened when a 1W 445nm laser scanned across one guys eye as the laser tumbled off a chair. Beam only stayed on his eye as long as its takes a falling midair tumble to shift aim.
Much of the damage is obscured by blood here.
And this was “just” a 1W, you can now buy 3W and higher in 445nm lasers. Hell, 1.8W diode is just $26 now. 6W diode for $140. Real power, not chinese lumens. And some lasers can burn well with much less power due to having a much tighter beam than 445s, like a 405nm bluray.