Variation of laser-induced retinal damage threshold with retinal image size (Abstract Only)

Abstract

The dependence of retinal damage threshold on laser spot size was examined for two pulsewidth regimes; nanosecond- duration Q-switched pluses from a doubled Nd:YAG laser and microsecond-duration pulses from a flashlamp-pumped dye laser. Threshold determination were conducted for nominal retinal image sizes ranging form 1.5 mrad to 100 mrad of visual field, corresponding to image diameters of approximately 22 micrometers to 1.4 mm on the primate retina. Together, this set of retinal damage threshold reveals the functional dependence of threshold on spot size. The threshold dose was found to vary with the area of the image for larger image sizes. The experimental results were compared to the predictions of the Thompson-Gerstman granular model of laser-induced retinal damage. The experimental and theoretical trends of threshold variation with retinal spot size were essentially the same, with both data sets showing threshold dose proportional to image area for spot sizes >= 150 micrometers . The absolute values predicted by the model, however, were significantly higher than experimental values, possibly because of uncertainty in various biological input parameters, such as the melanosome absorption coefficient and the number of melanosomes per RPE cell.