Recorded injuries!

[Dj_Nexus]

Pretty sure I read somewhere that Jennifer Lopez was burned by lasers in one of her performances.

[JimBo]

Pretty sure I read somewhere that Jennifer Lopez was burned by lasers in one of her performances.

Probably caught her backside in a laser

Jim

[mixedgas]

[QUOTE=JimBo;34555]Probably caught her backside in a laser

On her legs doing a video shoot, considering she was standing on top of a wall in a small scan from what looked like a 60 watt KTP about 300 feet away, she should got some fairly nasty burns. I've seen the video, and I wouldnt have been anywhere near that small moving beam array.

Steve Roberts

[platinum]

I have a little black dot that stays in the same spot in my left eye. I think it was caused be a glance from my 3 watt DPSS at an outdoor show while setting up.

[steve-o]

I've heard that "floaters" are caused by laser damage but I dont think that's true.. (I've got plenty of 'em tho-- but they come and go)
One guy said to me his floaters only appear when he's stressed and his blood pressure's up..Both the eye Dr and my regular Dr said they hadn't ever heard of this.. anybody else notice this? It seems to happen to me tho...

[platinum]

My dad explained to me that he has floaters and it's something that happens naturally as one gets older. (he's 56) This put me at ease a little when I was telling him about that aforementioned black dot. The only time I see the thing is in daylight with a typically darker surface. (for instance, looking at a gray roof during near sunlight)

Furthermore, I had a eye-test done a month ago and was told I have 20/15 vision with no problems.. so that's good too. (I had been up all night preceding that eye test too.. I wonder if I would have retained my previous 20/10 score if I had been well-rested)

It's just terrifying thinking about eye damage though. I use a pair of Japanese 523nm ski-goggle-looking safety glasses whenever I might come in contact with my laser. I got them on eBay a year or so ago for $90.

-Jonathan

[steve-o]

That's good to know, especially since I'm almost your Dad's age --I'm 52..
I've always been horribly near-sighted though--had to wear glasses/ contacts since 10 yrs old ..

[Zoof]

I've heard that "floaters" are caused by laser damage but I dont think that's true.. (I've got plenty of 'em tho-- but they come and go)
One guy said to me his floaters only appear when he's stressed and his blood pressure's up..Both the eye Dr and my regular Dr said they hadn't ever heard of this.. anybody else notice this? It seems to happen to me tho...

Hi Steve,

I too have floater but at a much younger age (32) . I even remember having some at very young ages (5-10): as I lay on my back staring at the blue sky I noticed these thingies that float through the field of vision. I guess it is normal to have some floaters at any age.

I noticed a major floater the day after demonstrating my 8mW HeNe and speaker scanner one night. That night after having many drinks a friend insisted on the demo and I caught a stray beam in the right eye momentarily that reflected off unpolished brass from the speaker construction. The next day I noticed the floater at my computer staring at the white page.
Imagine how I felt when I suspected that lasers could cause floaters!!

After looking into this (extensively) I found absolutely no indication that lasers could be the cause of floaters. It is much more likely that the big floater was caused by rubbing the eye, something I did a lot that night as if I could rub the exposure away. The eye dr. has looked at the retina and has not detected any abnormalities. Also the eye dr. could see the floaters and said it was normal even at my age.

So nothing bad happened, at least not with lasers but I became very cautious. Some things I learned from this:
* After having consumed alcohol do not play with lasers. You do stupid things and body reaction times are much slower and cannot be counted on!
* Floaters are protein strings that form in the vitreous humor and come with age and are not burns or damage to the eye.
* Retinal damage is very hard to notice. The brain and nervous system quickly adjust to not seeing spots on the retina. This is why you generally don't see the blind spot - this is where the optical nerve is attached and where no receptors are on the retina. Since floaters float across the retina they do not cover one spot of the retina all the time and the brain / nervous system cannot compensate for those.
* There is such a thing as accumulative eye damage. Exposures to very bright light over time will cause the retina to become less sensitive and slowly becoming blind. This one alerts me the most (!)
* Oh yes of course, the warranty period of our eyes expires when we are born and I haven't found a new pair on ebay yet so the ones we have are very precious

[Jem]

I sometimes see a 'Floater' just after i've been to the toilet

Does this mean anything ???

Jem

[JimBo]

I sometimes see a 'Floater' just after i've been to the toilet

Does this mean anything ???

Jem

I often see a German Shepherds tail after going to the toilet.

I actually thought floaters were bits of dirt/fluff etc on the fluid on the front of the eye.

Jim