Blue Laser Induced Retinal Injury in a Commercial Pilot at 1300 ft

Abstract

The case reports highlights the growing threat to the ocular health of airline crew and, potentially, passenger safety due to the lack of regulatory oversight of high powered laser devices obtained from the internet. We strongly believe high powered handheld laser devices should not be in the possession of the general public.

Laser Pointers Revisited

“…The low price of these lasers has also led to their widespread use by the public and there are increasing complaints by airline pilots about lasers directed at their planes as well. Although there has been only one report about an alleged laser induced injury in a pilot during landing operation 1 , there have been many case reports with a vision disturbances or vision loss (up to counting finger level) in children or in the adult population when such lasers are directed into the eye. In the U.S., the FDA has imposed strict guidelines for the sale of laser pointers, which considers an output power of less than 5 mW to be safe.…”

Eye hazards of laser ‘pointers’ in perspective

“…Only one case of alleged retinal damage to a pilot resulting from laser targeting of aircraft has been reported,4 although not in a peer review ophthalmic journal. This case is suspect because first and foremost, the metrology and exposure geometry would suggest insufficient energy could have entered the eye to produce irreversible damage and second the fundus anomaly is in the wrong location, the wrong shape and resulted in an extremely transient reported loss of VA with full recovery.…”

Fremdverursachte laserinduzierte Makulopathie

“…Schlussfolgerung ! Durch den freien Zugang via Internet zu Laserpointern ab der Klasse 3 (über das Ausland) ist in den letzten Jahren ein Gefahrenpotenzial im zivilen Bereich entstanden, welches sowohl in die Privatsphäre als auch in den Beruf Einzug gehalten hat [5]. Hierbei bringt eine korrekte und gezielte Anamnese sowie eine ausführ-liche klinische Untersuchung, insbesondere anhand des SD-OCTs, eine entscheidende Unterstützung für die Diagnose einer laserinduzierten Makulopathie.…”