Doctors see danger in laser pointers

September 9, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

NEW YORK

A 15-year-old boy damaged his eyes while playing with a laser pointer he’d bought over the Internet, say doctors who warn that dangerously high-powered versions are easily available online.

One eye expert called it “a legitimate public-health menace.”

The boy’s case is reported in today’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine by doctors who treated him at the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital in Switzerland.

It follows two reports in June of similar accidents. British doctors said a teenager damaged his eyes with a high-powered laser pointer, and a British physician said his vision was affected for several months after he was zapped by his 7-year-old son.

Laser pointers are devices that resemble pens and emit a narrow beam of laser light. They’re used by lecturers to point out information during presentations, for example.

Laser pointers sold in the United States are subject to a power limit imposed by the Food and Drug Administration — one that won’t cause instant eye damage, although harm still is possible with prolonged exposure.

Laser pointers that exceed the FDA restriction can be found online.

The Swiss boy’s laser was 30 times more powerful than the FDA limit. He bought it to pop balloons and burn holes in paper and his sister’s sneakers, his doctors said.

High-power devices such as the one the teen bought are advertised as laser pointers and look just like low-powered versions, Schmid and colleagues wrote.