An ophthalmologist at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital has cautioned the public about the damage that laser pointers can cause to eyes, after a 10-year-old Kaohsiung boy suffered retinal damage after playing with a laser pointer with a classmate.
Handheld laser pointers are useful in educational and business presentations, but they are not toys and can cause severe, sometimes permanent, retinal damage if shone directly into the eyes, Department of Ophthalmology director Wu Pei-chang (吳佩昌) said on Sunday.
When his patient and a friend were playing with the laser pointer, they were trying to dodge the beam so that it did not hit their eyes, but at some point the laser did hit the boy’s left eye, Wu said.
The boy later said he felt a temporary stinging pain and was sensitive to light afterwards, but his family did not seek medical attention.
However, during a regular eye exam two weeks later, a visible retinal burn was discovered in the boy’s left eye, Wu said.
Laser pointers produce a high-powered beam of monochromatic light that is concentrated in a small area, and if the beam hits the eye, it passes through the cornea, vitreous body and onto the retina, where the intensity of the light can be expanded by about 100 times, he said, adding that retina cells that respond to light are pigmented and can heat up if hit by a laser beam.
If the laser beam had been pointed at his eye for a longer period, the boy could have suffered a retinal tear, bleeding or even blindness, the doctor said.
The boy underwent photocoagulation treatment and will need regular follow-up exams to monitor the eye’s healing, but he did not suffer any vision loss, Wu said.
If somone is exposed to any kind of laser light, whether from a pointer, stage lighting or cosmetic lasers, and their eyes later do not feel normal, they should seek medical attention as soon as possible to prevent permanent damage, Wu said.
DISTRUST WARRANTED? The WHO is under China’s control and has become a useless organization, while data from China cannot be trusted, a Control Yuan member said China’s demand that the novel coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, not be referred to with names like the “Wuhan pneumonia” betrays its lack of confidence in itself, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told lawmakers yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) asked Su, during a interpellation at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, for his view on China’s attempts to redeem its national image in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included China’s efforts to “bleach” its image, including having WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus publicly praise its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, and thanking it for buying time
TOO TIRED: Investigators found that the pilot’s lack of alertness could be attributed to a lack of sleep the previous night, when he had slept with his child It was a copilot’s inappropriate operation of the aircraft and the pilot’s insufficient alertness that led to a hard landing of a China Airlines cargo flight on Dec. 13, 2018, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board said yesterday. Flight CI6844, a Boeing 747-409 which departed from Hong Kong International Airport, landed on the pre-threshold area of runway L5 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, about 21m before the head of the runway, an investigation report said. The hard landing damaged three runway lights, but none of the personnel on board sustained any injuries, the report said. When approaching the runway, the copilot failed to maintain
Taipei residents who stay at hotels in the city during their 14-day mandatory quarantine period are eligible to apply for the city’s NT$7,000 subsidy, with online applications to be launched next week. Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) on Monday said Taipei residents who have COVID-19 Health Declaration and Home Quarantine Notice dated after March 19 and a quarantine hotel receipt for the dates covered by the quarantine period, would be eligible for the subsidy. The Taipei City Government on Sunday told the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) that so many city residents are under home quarantine that about 90 percent of
REPEAT OFFENDER: The man went outside for exercise on Wednesday and then left his home on Saturday with his girlfriend, officials said A New Taipei City man has been fined NT$400,000 (US$13,221) and ordered into government quarantine after breaking home quarantine for a second time on Saturday. The 25-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳) returned to Taiwan on Sunday last week and was ordered to home quarantine until Sunday. He was seen leaving his home on a scooter with his girlfriend on Saturday, three days after he was fined NT$200,000 for going outside to exercise, police said. Chen has now been placed in a quarantine center arranged by the district office and health center of the district where he lives, police said. Police warned the public
RSS