HERSHEY, Pa. — Much attention has been focused on the potential dangers of the recent solar eclipse to the unprotected eye, but health experts caution there’s at least one other — and more prevalent — way to do lasting damage to one’s vision.
Dr. Joseph Sassani, an ophthalmologist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, says it’s by that same process that the light from an eclipse or even a laser pointer can damage the retina.
Laser pointer
While solar eclipses are relatively rare, Sassani notes laser pointers are far more prevalent.
“The concentrated light from even a low-energy laser pointer can damage the retina,” Sassani said. He adds children are especially susceptible because they treat the devices like toys, sometimes staring straight into them or pointing them at each other’s faces.
While the light emitted by a flashlight disperses, the light from a laser pointer typically remains concentrated several feet away, making it just as dangerous from a distance as it is close-up.
Sassani notes there have even been cases of retinal damage reported from children shining a laser pointer in a mirror and back at themselves.
The retina
Sassani said the retina records the image and sends it back to your brain, much like film in a camera.
The area of the retina that provides most of our vision is only about 1.5 millimeters wide, meaning it doesn’t take much to create a hole in one’s vision — which may be temporary or end up lasting forever.
Whether a solar eclipse or a laser pointer, Sassani urges adults and children to take the damages they pose seriously, “It’s not a joke. It can do real damage.”
