Proceedings of Laser and Noncoherent Ocular Effects: Epidemiology, Prevention,and Treatment, Held in San Jose, California, on 10-11 February 1997

摘要

The spread of laser instruments to many fields of human activity and thepotential of laser radiation to produce biological damage make certain that laser accidents leading to human injuries will occur. Laser radiation is especially liable to cause accidents since it may be projected over long distances, is often used in the open space, and is sometimes invisible. The potential of laser instruments to be harmful was realized quite early on in their development, and stringent rules were imposed in most countries to minimize injuries. Those regulations are obviously effective since laser injuries are as yet uncommon and the reported cases number only in the hundreds. However, more accidental laser-inflicted traumata are expected in the future as more people are potentially exposed. The situation it especially grave in the military where lasers constitute parts of weapon systems to be used outdoors and are necessarily directed at other people. The hazards are even greater when the potential victims are using collecting optics. The facts regarding laser injuries are well known enough for some military planners to develop laser weapons aimed at producing visual incapacitation of the enemy. Some of these systems have been fielded and used. These potential weapons are based Os the fact that the eye is the body organ most vulnerable to laser radiation, especially in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths. This vulnerability is a result of the eye's dioptrics apparatus focusing the light on the retina, thus increasing the energy concentration many thousandfold. Consequently, almost all of the laser accidents reported thus far involved ocular, mainly retinal, damage.