Eye Safety Research Articles

Safety of eyes in infants and babies during Breast feeding

An awareness study about the Eye safety while breast feeding in small children and infants, as there are always chances of an eye injury to the baby with the hook of mother’s blouse. In India blouse is a traditional top women used to wear mostly.

Patient Satisfaction Related to Their Eye Health Examination at Lúrio University Clinic in Nampula, Mozambique during COVID-19

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is defined as the extent of agreement between what a patient expects to receive from his or her health experience and the perception of the level of care he or she actually receive. With the COVID-19 pandemic, many practices have to adapt to provide health ensuring patients’ safety in first instance. Eye care procedures may be delayed during the pandemic, so eye safety is more important than ever, and it doesn’t only focus on the examination room, all the clinic compartments must be adjusted to ensure that no patient is infected by COVID-19 within the clinic. The aim of this study was to assess the satisfaction of patients who attended the Lúrio University Clinic for eye care during COVID-19. Material and Methods: This is a quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted from December 30th, 2020 to April 30th, 2021. A systematic random sampling method was used to enrol 173 participants. Data were collected using an identification form and the patient satisfaction survey. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Lúrio University Bioethical Committee review board, and informed consent term was also received from the participants before data collection. Results: 173 participants (84 women, 48.6% and 89 men, 51.4%) completed the survey with the mean age of 31.14 and standard deviation of ±14.6 years. We found that 98.3% of the participants were satisfied (63.6% satisfied and 34.7% extremely satisfied) with the eye care provided in Lúrio University Clinic. Conclusion: Most of the patients were satisfied with the eye health examination provided in Lúrio University clinic, thus the directions for future research of the study are now opened.

A Novel Face and Eye Safety Assurance System During Welding Activities by Using Deep Learning Techniques

A Novel Face and Eye Safety Assurance System During Welding Activities by Using Deep Learning Techniques

Occupational Ocular Injuries and Utilization of Eye Protective Devices among Sawmill Workers in the Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria.

In this work, we carried out a cross-sectional study to assess occupational ocular injuries and utilization of eye protective devices among sawmill workers in the Ojo local government area of Lagos State, Nigeria A structured questionnaire was used to conduct face-to-face interviews among the sawmill workers. Pearson’s chi-squared test and t-test were used to test associations between variables. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 215 sawmill workers with a mean age of 37.08 ± 12.07 years participated in the study. A majority (55.8%) of the participants were male (93.7%), and a majority were 21–40 years old (55.8%). Of the participants, 78.6% were aware of occupational ocular injuries and 17.7% used ocular safety devices. The major barrier to the use of eye protective devices was unavailability (43%). Workers who were ≥20 years old (p < 0.001), who received a monthly salary of less than USD 100 (p < 0.043), who had work experience of ≥10 years (p < 0.04), who were aware of ocular hazards (p < 0.03), and who did not use protective eye devices (p < 0.02) were significantly associated with occupational ocular injuries compared to others. The prevalence of occupational ocular injuries and the utilization of eye safety devices among the sawmill workers in the current study were comparable to findings from other studies. Based on the results of our study, we advise the provision of ocular protective devices for sawmill workers and policies to enforce regular utilization.

Efficacy and safety of single-step transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy with the all-surface laser ablation SCHWIND platform without mitomycin-C for high myopia: A retrospective study of 69 eyes.

Studies suggest that transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy (TransPRK) with the all-surface laser ablation (ASLA)-SCHWIND platform is effective and safe for both low-moderate myopia and high myopia. In most studies, mitomycin-C is administered immediately after surgery to prevent corneal opacification (haze), which is a significant complication of photorefractive keratectomy in general. However, there is evidence that adjuvant mitomycin-C induces endothelial cytotoxicity. Moreover, a recent study showed that omitting adjuvant mitomycin-C did not increase haze in low-moderate myopia. The present case-series study examined the efficacy, safety, and haze rates of eyes with high myopia that underwent ASLA-SCHWIND TransPRK without adjuvant mitomycin-C. All consecutive eyes with high myopia (≤-6 D) that were treated in 2018-2020 with the SCHWIND Amaris 500E® TransPRK excimer laser without adjuvant mitomycin-C in a tertiary-care hospital (France) and were followed up for 6 months were identified. Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA), and spherical equivalent (SE) were recorded before and after surgery. Postoperative haze was graded using the 4-grade Fantes scale. Efficacy rate (frequency of eyes with 6-month UCVA ≤0.1 logMAR), safety rate (frequency of eyes that lost <2 BSCVA lines), predictability (frequency of eyes with 6-month SE equal to target SE±0.5 D), efficacy index (mean UCVA at 6 months/preoperative BSCVA), and safety index (BSCVA at 6 months/preoperative BSCVA) were computed. Sixty-nine eyes (38 patients) were included. Mean preoperative and 6-month SE were -7.44 and -0.05 D, respectively. Mean 6-month UCVA and BSCVA were 0.00 and -0.02 logMAR, respectively. Efficacy rate and index were 95.7% and 1.08, respectively. Safety rate and index were 95.7% and 1.13, respectively. Predictability was 85.5%. Grade 3-4 haze never arose. At 6 months, the haze rate was zero. ASLA-SCHWIND TransPRK without mitomycin-C appears to be safe as well as effective and accurate for high myopia.

Speckle-free holography with partially coherent light sources and camera-in-the-loop calibration.

Computer-generated holography (CGH) holds transformative potential for a wide range of applications, including direct-view, virtual and augmented reality, and automotive display systems. While research on holographic displays has recently made impressive progress, image quality and eye safety of holographic displays are fundamentally limited by the speckle introduced by coherent light sources. Here, we develop an approach to CGH using partially coherent sources. For this purpose, we devise a wave propagation model for partially coherent light that is demonstrated in conjunction with a camera-in-the-loop calibration strategy. We evaluate this algorithm using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and superluminescent LEDs (SLEDs) and demonstrate improved speckle characteristics of the resulting holograms compared with coherent lasers. SLEDs in particular are demonstrated to be promising light sources for holographic display applications, because of their potential to generate sharp and high-contrast two-dimensional (2D) and 3D images that are bright, eye safe, and almost free of speckle.

Concurrent and Post COVID-19 Ophthalmological Implications.

Background and AimCOVID-19 infection is a respiratory disease but it can have ophthalmological manifestations as well. This study aimed to investigate the ophthalmological implications of COVID-19 either during the course of the disease or after recovery.MethodsA retrospective study included the records of 425 COVID-19 patients, proved by positive PCR swabs. The records were collected from three isolation hospitals in Gharbeya Governorate, Egypt.ResultsThe mean age of the studied group was 41.73 ± 13.59, and 216 (50.8%) of them were males. One hundred and thirty one (30.8%) patients had ophthalmological manifestations. Among the entire patients, the most common ophthalmological presentation was conjunctivitis in 111 patients (26.1%), followed by neuro-retinal affection in 9 (2.1%), secondary fungal orbital cellulitis in 6 (1.4%), episcleritis in 3 (0.7%) and keratitis in 2 (0.5%) patients. All of the observed ophthalmological implications occurred either during the course of the disease (concurrent) or after recovery, except for the fungal orbital cellulitis which occurred only after recovery.ConclusionCOVID-19 could cause different eye manifestations. Recovery from the main disease does not guarantee eye safety, especially in high-risk patients.

Iterative differential autoregressive spectrum estimation for Raman spectrum denoising

AbstractAlthough ultraviolet (UV) laser Raman spectroscopy offers the benefits of stronger signals, partial separation of fluorescence and Raman spectra, and increased eye safety, it suffers from excessive noise, poor resolution, low maturity level, and small intensities of remotely acquired signals and therefore needs to be used in combination with effective denoising techniques. Herein, a denoising approach denoted as iterative differential autoregressive spectrum estimation was developed relying on the assumption that more detailed Raman peaks can be obtained by dividing the Raman spectrum into multiple layers with different intensity levels and estimating the energy distribution of each layer. Specifically, each layer was computed from the difference between the upper layer spectrum and its autoregressive model estimation spectrum, and the energy distribution at progressively lower intensity levels was considered. Compared with traditional techniques, our method exhibited good noise suppression performance and an excellent Raman peak restoration ability while offering the advantages of decreased spectral resolution loss and stable robustness. Cutoff optimization strategies were proposed to improve convergence and noise suppression ability and thus decrease the calculation time to 0.18 s and meet the needs of remote Raman spectrometers for real‐time denoising under the condition of long integration. The developed technique paves the way to Raman spectrum denoising based on power spectrum estimation, has a strong adaptive potential, and can be extended to other applications.

Multipath lens for eye-safe optical wireless communications.

This article considers the design and use of multipath lenses (MPLs) for optical wireless communications (OWC). The MPL increases the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) for eye safety and allows for an increase of transmission power of small-sized emitters like laser diodes (LDs). A prototype of a freeform MPL has been fabricated and characterized. The MPL allows an increase of the optical transmission power by 13 dB, which corresponds to an improvement in the maximum range by a factor of 4.5. The lens transforms the elliptical emission pattern of an edge-emitting LD into a rectangular field-of-view (FOV) with homogenous power distribution. The transmission efficiency through the MPL is 0.905.

Multi-beam single-photon LiDAR with hybrid multiplexing in wavelength and time

We report a multi-beam single-photon light detection and ranging (LiDAR) in eye-safe band at 1.5 µm with hybrid multiplexing in wavelength and time. 16 independent laser diodes with equal frequency spacing in dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) were combined with a blazed grating to generate multi-beam dispersing with equal angle in space as the LiDAR laser source. Meanwhile, time division multiplexing (TDM) was applied on the 16 laser diodes as well. A single-pixel single-photon detector (SP-SPD) was used to detect the echo photon signal of all laser beams by TDM. In this way, we constituted a compact optical system without multi-beam transceiver alignment. The LiDAR system was simple and robust with this hybrid multiplexing technology. An outdoor photon-counting imaging within 75-m range was achieved, with the laser power lower than 1/10 of the human eye safety threshold. It has high application potential in the field of automatic driving with strict eye safety requirements.

Comprehensive Profiling through a Cross-sectional Assessment on the Awareness about Eye Protection Safety among Dental Professionals in Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT Purpose Eye injuries account for 3–4% of all occupational injuries; however, dental practitioners are at relatively high risk of occupational ocular incidents during their practices. The study aims to assess the attitude, knowledge, and awareness towards the safety of the eye; measures undertaken for its protection and its probable variations regarding age, gender, qualification, and years of practice among dental practitioners in Saudi Arabia (SA). Methods In this cross-sectional study, 348 dental practitioners and dental staff from SA participated. Besides demography, information regarding their knowledge, attitude, perception towards eye safety protection, and measures followed was collected through a 28-questions structured questionnaire posted online. Results Among the participants, 47.4% were male, 52.6% female, and 55% dentists. The data revealed that about 47% of the dentists were following clinical safety programs in their practice, 68% were employing a very high-level eye protection measure, whereas about 40% followed these measures just before starting the procedure, yet nearly 38% of the dentists faced ocular injury. Female practitioners had the highest level of knowledge on eye safety and protection. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis showed that the awareness of the need for eye protection and inclusion of safety-glasses for UV protection were significant independent determinants of eye-injury incidence among dental professionals. Conclusion This survey comprehensively profiles dental professionals’ awareness and attitude about safety measures for their eye protection in their practice. Thus, the outcome of the study may pave the way for practicing an evidence-based safety approach towards the prevention of occupational ocular incidents in SA.

3D chaos lidar system with a pulsed master oscillator power amplifier scheme.

We investigated the characteristics of chaos-modulated pulses amplified by a pulsed master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) for application in a new chaos lidar system in this study. Compared with the loss modulation applied in a continuous-wave (CW) time-gating scheme, the pulsed MOPA scheme could generate chaos-modulated pulses with much higher peak power, resulting in an improved peak-to-standard deviation of sidelobe level (PSLstd) in correlation-based lidar detection. When the pulsed MOPA scheme was applied at a duty cycle of 0.1% and pulse repetition frequency of 20 kHz, which correspond to specifications compliant with eye safety regulations, it outperformed the CW time-gating scheme with respect to PSLstd by 15 dB. For the first time, we applied the chaos lidar system with the pulsed MOPA scheme to execute high-resolution, high-precision three-dimensional (3D) face profiling from a distance of 5 m. We also added the corresponding PSLstd value to each pixel in the point clouds to generate false-color images; thus, we obtained 3D images of a scene with multiple objects at a range of up to 20 m.

Simulation of laser-induced retinal thermal injuries for non-uniform irradiance profiles and the applicability of the laser safety standard

Significance: A validated biophysical computer model simulating retinal thermal damage thresholds is used to investigate elongated retinal images. The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection Guideline and the laser safety standard IEC 60825-1:2014 include a method for averaging non-uniform extended sources, however, there are no studies that have examined the applicability in detail. Our study represents a method that can also support future research in the field of eye safety. Aim: As there is currently no experimental data available for non-uniform irradiance profiles, the calculation procedure given in the laser safety standard is derived from symmetric retinal images. We aim to verify this calculation procedure for such profiles on the retina in the thermal hazard regime. Approach: A three-dimensional computer model, which solves the heat transfer equation and the Arrhenius equation describing the denaturation of the proteins in the retina, is used to simulate the threshold values for the retinal thermal injury. Three different non-uniform irradiance profiles, elliptical Gaussian, elliptical top-hat, and rectangular top-hat distributions, are investigated for a wavelength of 530 nm. The profiles are varied in their sizes and simulated for different single-pulse durations. By applying the laser safety standard, the maximum allowed energies are calculated and divided by the corresponding threshold values to obtain the reduction factor (RF) which is a crucial parameter. Results: Due to the thermal behavior in the retinal tissues, the Gaussian irradiance profiles yield larger threshold values than both top-hat profiles. Furthermore, the ratio between the threshold values and the maximum allowed energies are found to be the lowest for the Gaussian profiles. Conclusion: The simulated retinal thermal injury thresholds for the three investigated non-uniform irradiance profiles show larger RFs than the minimum RF found for symmetric profiles. This supports the applicability of the evaluation scheme of the laser safety standard for non-uniform retinal images.

Angular resolution in VCSEL radiant intensity distribution measurements

AbstractVertical cavity surface‐emitting lasers (VCSEL) are getting more and more popular for 3D sensing and time‐of‐flight technology in consumer and automotive applications. VCSEL arrays with hundreds of single emitters are often used. Measurement of the radiant intensity distribution is the key to performing a proper eye safety assessment and designing suitable secondary optics for these emitters.

Silicone hydrogel versus hydrogel soft contact lenses for differences in patient-reported eye comfort and safety

Silicone hydrogel versus hydrogel soft contact lenses for differences in patient-reported eye comfort and safety

Prevalence of Occupational Ocular Injury and Associated Factors Among Small-Scale Industry Workers in Gondar Town, Northwest Ethiopia, 2019.

PurposeTo assess the prevalence of occupational ocular injury and associated factors among small-scale industry workers in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia.Methods and MaterialsInstitution-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 542 manufacturing and construction workers in Gondar town from April 23 to May 4, 2019. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data using face-to-face interview. Binary logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with occupational ocular injury.ResultsA total of 542 small-scale industry workers participated with a 95.1% response rate. The prevalence of occupational ocular injury was 31.4% (95% CI, 27.2–35.5). Employment pattern (temporary workers) (AOR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.14–2.95), health and safety training (AOR: 2.22, 95% CI: 1.06–4.66), non-use of eye safety device (AOR: 7.43, 95% CI: 4.44–12.43), and job category (woodwork (AOR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.32–0.97)), and brickwork (AOR: 2.19, 95% CI: 1.08–7.21) had statistically significant with occupational ocular injury.ConclusionThis study showed the prevalence of occupational ocular injury among small-scale industry workers was 31.4%. Iron chips are the most common agent responsible for the injury. Type of employment, having health and safety training, use of eye safety devices, and job category had a significant association with occupational ocular injury.

52‐1: Blue‐Light Eye Safety Predictions under Ambient Light: ePaper Displays with Front Light vs. Emissive Displays

Blue light from displays may be hazardous to the viewer's eye. Although reflective ePaper displays can emit blue light if a LED front light is used, the reflection of ambient light effectively reduces its relative proportion in the display's total radiance spectrum. This is predicted by standard optical measurements of ePaper's emissive and reflective characteristics, combined with ambient illumination models. The beneficial effect of ambient light reflection is absent for emissive displays.

Safety and Long-term Scleral Biomechanical Stability of Rhesus Eyes after Scleral Cross-linking by Blue Light

ABSTRACT Purpose: To assess the safety and long-term scleral biomechanical stability of rhesus eyes after blue light scleral CXL by investigating the biomechanical and microstructural changes. Methods: Seven rhesus monkeys (14 eyes) were observed in this study. All right eyes received blue light scleral CXL at the superior temporal equatorial sclera, and the left eyes served as controls. Biological ocular parameters were followed up to 1 year after scleral CXL. Stress-strain measurements of three rhesus sclera were measured, three rhesus retinas were examined histologically by H&E and TUNEL staining. And the microstructure of both the sclera and retina were observed by transmission electron microscopy at 1 year. Results: As for the retinal thickness, choroidal thickness, flow density of retinal superficial vascular networks and flash electroretinography (f-ERG) results, no significant differences were observed between the paired eyes at 1 year (P >.05). At the same time, the scleral collagen fibril distribution was much tighter, and the scleral biomechanical properties were significantly increased in the experimental eyes. However, apoptotic cells and retinal ultrastructural changes could still be found in the retina of the experimental eyes. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that blue light scleral CXL could effectively increase the scleral stiffness of the rhesus eye for at least 1 year, but ultrastructural change was still observed in the retina of scleral CXL eye. Therefore, the long-term intraocular safety of the blue light scleral CXL technique for preventing myopia progression should be investigated further.

Trabeculectomy with Ologen implant versus perfluoropropane gas bubble for open angle glaucoma in pseudophakic eyes.

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of augmented trabeculotomy with Ologen versus perfluoropropane in management of pseudophakic glaucoma. This is a comparative randomized study included 57 pseudophakic eyes of 57 patients with medically uncontrolled open angle glaucoma (OAG). Twenty-nine patients were allocated in group I (trabeculectomy with Ologen; trab-ologen group), while 28 patients were assigned in group II (trabeculectomy with perfluoropropane gas bubble; trab-C3F8 gas bubble group). The intraocular pressure (IOP) was significantly reduced in both study groups at all postoperative follow up intervals (1wk, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36mo, P<0.001). The differences between the mean IOP values of both groups remained statistically insignificance during the early 12 months of follow up. However, the trab-ologen group achieved a statistically significant reduction over the trab-C3F8 gas bubble group during the last 24 months of follow up. Augmentation of trabeculectomy with either Ologen implant or perfluoropropane gas bubble are associated with strict long term IOP control and evident safety in medically-uncontrolled pseudophakic eyes with OAG.

Trifocal intraocular lens implantation in eyes with previous corneal refractive surgery for myopia and hyperopia.

To evaluate the visual and refractive outcomes of trifocal intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in eyes previously treated with myopic and hyperopic corneal refractive laser surgery. Clinica Baviera-AIER-Eye group, Spain. Retrospective comparative case series. The series was divided into 2 groups according to the type of corneal laser refraction (myopic and hyperopic). The main visual and refractive outcome measures included corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) and uncorrected distance and near visual acuity, safety, efficacy, and predictability. The secondary outcome measures were percentage of enhancement and Nd:YAG capsulotomy and influence of prelaser magnitude of myopia and hyperopia on the outcome of trifocal IOL implantation. The sample comprised 868 eyes (543 patients): myopic, n = 319 eyes (36.7%); and hyperopic, n = 549 eyes (63.2%). Three months postoperatively, visual outcomes were poorer in the hyperopic group than those in the myopic group for mean CDVA (0.06 ± 0.05 vs 0.04 ± 0.04, P < .01) and safety (21% vs 12% of CDVA line loss, P < .05) outcomes. However, precision outcomes were worse in the myopic group than those in the hyperopic group, with a mean spherical equivalent of -0.38 ± 0.3 vs -0.17 ± 0.3 (P < .01). Stratification by magnitude of primary laser treatment revealed poorer visual and safety results in the high hyperopia subgroup (>+3.0 diopters [D]) and poorer precision in the high myopia subgroup (<-5.0 D). Trifocal IOL implantation after photorefractive surgery in eyes previously treated with myopic ablation achieved good visual outcomes but less predictability in the high myopia subgroup. However, eyes with a previous hyperopic corneal ablation achieved excellent precision but worse visual and safety outcomes in the high hyperopia subgroup.