I came across my account here and am glad that thread was stickied. Excuse my immaturity at the time
6.5 years after the ~0.5 sec direct exposure @ 6 inches from a very cheap "200mW" green laser pointer that likely emitted mostly IR, I am effectively, in every practical way 100% healed. Immediately after exposure, the size of the spot of totally occluded vision was the size of a pencil eraser when viewed at 12-15 inches. In other words, it would block upwards of half or even a whole word on a computer screen or page when viewed at a normal distance. A few months later, vision is entirely restored with no residual impediment, and 3-4 weeks after the initial exposure, most vision had returned.
But, still today, approximately only once a week, I will notice the tiniest visual distortion, for just a few seconds, that will remind me that there is probably a little cluster of residual damage. It is nothing bad whatsoever. It will appear that literally just the corner of a piece of dust on the desk will seem to scintillate black and white but after I notice this, it is normal again. I can see the entire speck but there would be just this tiny aberration present. The size again is smaller than a single pixel on a computer screen, when it is noticeable. After I stop trying to look for it, it disappears and often I can't find it even if I look for it. I am able to clearly see a single pixel on the screen (you can test this by going to Paint or your drawing program and using the pencil tool to place a single tiny dot of red, green, or blue onto an image.)
This tiny reminder helps me a lot as I continue to work with much more powerful machines at more harmful wavelengths. If I had not myself experienced how absolutely-for-granted we take normal vision, I would now not be as careful with lasers as I would be with a gun - there are similar lifelong repercussions here. This stupid mistake would have happened with a much more powerful unit and I would be out an eye.
I hope that reading these posts allows you to imagine for yourself and experience how absolutely inhibiting to normal life even a small visual impediment would be. If you were forever missing a pencil eraser sized spot right in the center of your vision, you might even not be able to drive safely, forever. I was just the passenger in a car and I couldn't tell for certain the name of a street on the street sign until I would be too close to lane-change to turn the corner.
You MUST be extremely careful with your lasers. I KNOW some of you leave them laying on your desk with batteries inside. Imagine someone in your home invites friends with their kids and they come sneaking into your space, pick up your laser and ruin their vision forever until they can afford a bionic eye. Jokes aside, take the fricken batteries out of that 1W blue that's just laying there out in the open, or lock and put it away. Someone's guilty of leaving insecure lasers out and I saw this myself once. It's like a loaded gun that only destroys eyes, and it's constantly emitting an infinite stream of totally silent bullets that go the speed of light and bounce off of shiny surfaces.
If you get laser eye damage, immediately visit your doctor and get a referral to an ophthalmologist, IMMEDIATELY. Make it clear to your doctor that it cannot wait, this is your career, and you know there are medications and steps to take with the ophthalmologist that are TIME CRITICAL so your vision returns to normal - be honest and say what it takes to get seem immediately. Three days I waited not having any idea that a doctor can help interject serious eye damage, and I am sure this stupidity contributed to the lasting effect (which I am glad there is near-zero of now). I thank all members contributing to the thread and the ones that that replied quickly and gave the seemingly obvious advice to visit a doctor.
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Disclaimer: The following is not medical advice and doesn't replace your doctor's advice. Because not every ophthalmologist/doctor may recognize all interjectable aspects of any particular situation, bring up these ideas with them. Don't be worried to speak to your doctor and ask about something if you think it is right, and talk about other cases you've seen:
It may be the case that the body's natural inflammation response to the eye damage as it tries to heal, can be as much or more of a contributor to lasting effects than the laser burn itself. For this it might be very beneficial that there is anti-inflammatory activity at the damage site. In my case, prescription corticosteroids were given. Ask the doctor if this is right for your case.
Furthermore, scarring during and after healing is counterproductive. Fat-soluble antioxidants/vitamins including vitamin E and vitamin A, as well as water soluble antioxidant/vitamins such as vitamin C are highly important to support clean healing with minimal residual damage. It is true that many doctors and even an ophthalmologist may not recognize the huge contribution that simple vitamin E can play in long-term prognosis of eye damage, so do take advice from a naturopath regarding the food/vitamin sources that can assist with this. Some good advice was given in the thread regarding what vitamins/supplements will help, but again this doesn't replace doctor advice. Cod liver oil is a great idea for this (don't take more than the normal recommended amount), and even replacing your normal vegetable oil with olive oil has shown to clear up, soften and heal tissue faster. Almonds/nuts are a good source of cofactor minerals and these beneficial fats and vitamins. It may sound insignificant but these dietary contributions actually provide significant healing quality and capability to this specific case. You must do everything you can in a situation where you have only once chance to permanently define the outcome of an event like this.
****
Hopefully this post can be added to the sticky and not lost on the board. The sticky thread's clarity is VERY important and perhaps it should be edited a little to take out anything off-topic or any bad advice. I'm sure if a person could, they'd pay a million bucks to have their vision back after a stupid accident. If it saves one person, the entire website was worth it. EDIT: I just checked and the sticky has 65,000 views. I'd appreciate if a mod contacted me regarding some of it's content.
All the best and happy lasing!
6.5 years after the ~0.5 sec direct exposure @ 6 inches from a very cheap "200mW" green laser pointer that likely emitted mostly IR, I am effectively, in every practical way 100% healed. Immediately after exposure, the size of the spot of totally occluded vision was the size of a pencil eraser when viewed at 12-15 inches. In other words, it would block upwards of half or even a whole word on a computer screen or page when viewed at a normal distance. A few months later, vision is entirely restored with no residual impediment, and 3-4 weeks after the initial exposure, most vision had returned.
But, still today, approximately only once a week, I will notice the tiniest visual distortion, for just a few seconds, that will remind me that there is probably a little cluster of residual damage. It is nothing bad whatsoever. It will appear that literally just the corner of a piece of dust on the desk will seem to scintillate black and white but after I notice this, it is normal again. I can see the entire speck but there would be just this tiny aberration present. The size again is smaller than a single pixel on a computer screen, when it is noticeable. After I stop trying to look for it, it disappears and often I can't find it even if I look for it. I am able to clearly see a single pixel on the screen (you can test this by going to Paint or your drawing program and using the pencil tool to place a single tiny dot of red, green, or blue onto an image.)
This tiny reminder helps me a lot as I continue to work with much more powerful machines at more harmful wavelengths. If I had not myself experienced how absolutely-for-granted we take normal vision, I would now not be as careful with lasers as I would be with a gun - there are similar lifelong repercussions here. This stupid mistake would have happened with a much more powerful unit and I would be out an eye.
I hope that reading these posts allows you to imagine for yourself and experience how absolutely inhibiting to normal life even a small visual impediment would be. If you were forever missing a pencil eraser sized spot right in the center of your vision, you might even not be able to drive safely, forever. I was just the passenger in a car and I couldn't tell for certain the name of a street on the street sign until I would be too close to lane-change to turn the corner.
You MUST be extremely careful with your lasers. I KNOW some of you leave them laying on your desk with batteries inside. Imagine someone in your home invites friends with their kids and they come sneaking into your space, pick up your laser and ruin their vision forever until they can afford a bionic eye. Jokes aside, take the fricken batteries out of that 1W blue that's just laying there out in the open, or lock and put it away. Someone's guilty of leaving insecure lasers out and I saw this myself once. It's like a loaded gun that only destroys eyes, and it's constantly emitting an infinite stream of totally silent bullets that go the speed of light and bounce off of shiny surfaces.
If you get laser eye damage, immediately visit your doctor and get a referral to an ophthalmologist, IMMEDIATELY. Make it clear to your doctor that it cannot wait, this is your career, and you know there are medications and steps to take with the ophthalmologist that are TIME CRITICAL so your vision returns to normal - be honest and say what it takes to get seem immediately. Three days I waited not having any idea that a doctor can help interject serious eye damage, and I am sure this stupidity contributed to the lasting effect (which I am glad there is near-zero of now). I thank all members contributing to the thread and the ones that that replied quickly and gave the seemingly obvious advice to visit a doctor.
****
Disclaimer: The following is not medical advice and doesn't replace your doctor's advice. Because not every ophthalmologist/doctor may recognize all interjectable aspects of any particular situation, bring up these ideas with them. Don't be worried to speak to your doctor and ask about something if you think it is right, and talk about other cases you've seen:
It may be the case that the body's natural inflammation response to the eye damage as it tries to heal, can be as much or more of a contributor to lasting effects than the laser burn itself. For this it might be very beneficial that there is anti-inflammatory activity at the damage site. In my case, prescription corticosteroids were given. Ask the doctor if this is right for your case.
Furthermore, scarring during and after healing is counterproductive. Fat-soluble antioxidants/vitamins including vitamin E and vitamin A, as well as water soluble antioxidant/vitamins such as vitamin C are highly important to support clean healing with minimal residual damage. It is true that many doctors and even an ophthalmologist may not recognize the huge contribution that simple vitamin E can play in long-term prognosis of eye damage, so do take advice from a naturopath regarding the food/vitamin sources that can assist with this. Some good advice was given in the thread regarding what vitamins/supplements will help, but again this doesn't replace doctor advice. Cod liver oil is a great idea for this (don't take more than the normal recommended amount), and even replacing your normal vegetable oil with olive oil has shown to clear up, soften and heal tissue faster. Almonds/nuts are a good source of cofactor minerals and these beneficial fats and vitamins. It may sound insignificant but these dietary contributions actually provide significant healing quality and capability to this specific case. You must do everything you can in a situation where you have only once chance to permanently define the outcome of an event like this.
****
Hopefully this post can be added to the sticky and not lost on the board. The sticky thread's clarity is VERY important and perhaps it should be edited a little to take out anything off-topic or any bad advice. I'm sure if a person could, they'd pay a million bucks to have their vision back after a stupid accident. If it saves one person, the entire website was worth it. EDIT: I just checked and the sticky has 65,000 views. I'd appreciate if a mod contacted me regarding some of it's content.
All the best and happy lasing!
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