Laser pointer burns hole in boy's retina

The boy's vision was measured at 20/20 in his right eye and 20/100 in his left, according to the report. A person with a visual acuity of 20/100 would have to be within 20 feet of a point of focus in order to see what a person with normal vision can see at 100 feet.

Children are often reluctant to report eye injuries or symptoms, Androudi said, and she suspected that the patient had injured his eye at least a year before coming in for treatment. But even if he had come in earlier, there was no available therapy for his case, she said. Eighteen months after he came in, there were no changes to the boy's vision.
"When you have something as powerful like a laser, it's so powerful that it is converted to heat like a burn," said Dr. Thomas C. Lee, director of the Vision Center at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, who was not involved with the care of this patient. "That can leave scar tissue behind and can cause bleeding. The patient can actually get a blind spot right in the middle of the eye. ... It's like a magnifying glass burning a piece of paper. It's the same thing."

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