Danger of research in lasers: about two examples of retinal impacts in senior researchers

Abstract

AbstractPurpose We report two cases of accidental retinal lesions made by diode and femtosecond lasers in senior researchers in optics.Methods The first case concerned a 29‐year old caucasian woman exposed to a 1053 nm wavelength femtosecond laser (0.5 mW) during mirror alignment. Immediately after exposure, she felt blurry central vision and scotoma in her left eye. Visual acuity was 20/60. Clinical examination showed yellowish dots in foveal region. No treatment was given. Two years later, visual acuity remained low. The second case was a 40‐year old causasian woman exposed to 670 nm wavelength diode laser (3 mW) in both eyes during repeated experiments. The patient had no symptoms. Visual acuity was 20/20 without central scotoma. The fundus revealed several extrafoveal macular white and yellow impacts of different ages. Ten years later, no neovascular complication was observedResults These two different cases illustrate the danger of any type of laser. Thermic or blast effect can caused permanent damage to the retinal pigment epithelium affecting the fixation point with permanent visual acuity decrease. Choroidal infarction has been described in the literature. Main risks are neovascularization and enlargement of the impacts involving the fovea. When patient does not consult immediately after accidental exposition, differential diagnosis of white retinal infiltrates, as multifocal choroiditis, should be ruled out.Conclusion Whatever their skill, researchers and workers exposed to any type of lasers should be reminded the importance of wearing suitable eye protections. Considering the possibility of asymptomatic lesions, a periodical screening remains justified.