Purpose: To report symptoms and ocular pathology in 13 patients exposed to light from laser pointers. Methods: We conducted a multi-centre consecutive case series from eight ophthalmology departments. Results: Eleven boys aged 9-15 years and two girls aged 7 (sister of one of the aforementioned boys) and 12 years, respectively, were included. Laser wavelengths were 572 nm (green), 450 nm (blue), and red laser of unknown wavelength. Output powers were between 5 and 5000 mW. Evaluation included slit lamp examination, colour fundus photography (CFP), and optical coherence tomography (OCT). All subjects complained of unilateral vision loss. Initial visual acuities in exposed eyes ranged from 0.05 to 1.0 Snellen equivalent or better. Nine subjects showed pathology on CFP and OCT abnormalities. One subject had a macular hole, which closed after vitrectomy. Long-term visual acuity ranged from 0.3 to 1.0 Snellen equivalent or better. Conclusion: High-powered laser pointers have become readily available on the internet, and they have the potential to induce lasting visual loss. More than half of the published laser pointer maculopathy cases since the first incidence in 1999 have been published in 2014-2017. We suspect that incidence of exposure and subsequent visual loss is rising, and we encourage national legislators to regulate this market.

Purpose:To examine the association between diabetes and risk of medical glaucoma treatment and to assess the role of long-term glycemic control in the putative association.Design:Population-based case-control study.Methods:Cases of treated glaucoma were all persons filling at least three prescriptions for glaucoma medication for the first time within one year between 2001 and 2006 in Northern Jutland, Denmark. We used risk set sampling to select 10 gender- and age-matched general population controls per case using the Danish Civil Registration System. Data on diabetes, comorbidities, and laboratory tests, including glycosylated hemoglobin (as a measure of glycemic control) were obtained from population-based medical registries. We calculated odds ratio (OR) as an estimate of relative risk for treated glaucoma comparing patients with and without diabetes, adjusted for comorbid conditions and medication use.Results:We included 5,991 persons with incident medical glaucoma treatment and 59,910 population controls. The adjusted OR for treated glaucoma for patients with diabetes was 1.81 (95% confidence interval: 1.65–1.98). The strength of the association between diabetes and glaucoma risk did not vary by diabetes duration or by the level of glycemic control.Conclusions:Regardless of glycemic control, diabetes is associated with a substantially increased risk for medical glaucoma treatment.

ABSTRACT.Purpose: To investigate the visual abilities of students with severe developmental delay (DD) age 6-8 starting in special needs education. Methods: Between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2008, we screened all students with severe DD starting in special needs schools in Northern Jutland, Denmark for vision. All students with visual acuities £6 ⁄ 12 were refractioned and examined by an ophthalmologist. Results: Of 502 students, 56 (11%) had visual impairment (VI) [visual acuity (VA) £ 6 ⁄ 18], of which 21 had been previously undiagnosed. Legal blindness was found in 15 students (3%), of whom three had previously been undiagnosed. Students tested with preferential looking systems (N = 78) had significantly lower visual acuities [VA (decimal) = 0.55] than students tested with ortho types [VA (decimal) = 0.91] and had problems participating in the colour and form tests, possibly due to cerebral VI. The number of students with decreased vision identified by screening decreased significantly during the study period (r = 0.724, p = 0.028). The number of students needed to be screened to find one student with VI was 24 and to identify legal blindness 181 needed to be screened. Conclusion: Visual impairment is a common condition in students with severe DD. Despite increased awareness of VI in the school and health care system, we continued to find a considerable number of students with hitherto undiagnosed decreased vision.

The offspring of mothers with and without diabetes had almost identical mortality. The increased morbidity was restricted to the first 2 years of life, and was primarily attributable to a few individuals with very severe but probably non-diabetes-related disease burden. The large majority of offspring of mothers with diabetes experienced health conditions similar to those not exposed to diabetes.