If there’s one thing that all responsible parents want, it’s for their children to be happy and healthy. We do what we can to protect them but sometimes, we may do things that could cause harm.
Unfortunately, this is something that is a bit of a live-and-learn type of scenario. No parent is perfect and at times, they are going to make mistakes that can get the child in trouble or perhaps even cause harm. That is what happened in the following story and it is one that is heartbreaking.
It seems as if the young boy was playing with a toy that is found in almost every household. It is a laser pointer and I use the word toy loosely because it should never be put into the hand of a child.
A 14-year-old boy paid the price for this, and eye doctors in Australia are now warning parents that those laser pointers should never be considered a toy. In fact, they can cause more damage than you might realize.
The optometrist who is checking on the problem is Ben Armitage. He perhaps says something that is more surprising than anything else about the situation, it’s the fact that the little boy only pointed the laser pointer at his eye for a brief moment. It’s not like he held it there for an extended amount of time.
Laser pointers can cause damage so quickly that it surprises most people. Armitage had the following to say: "He came into see me and on the Friday night he’d got hold of a laser pen and unfortunately shined it in his eyes for a very brief period of time.”
The sad part about this situation is the fact that the boy lost 75% of his vision as a result of the issue. He actually burned the retina in the back of his eye near the macular.
Our vision is very detailed and much of it comes from the macula. When that part of the eye is damaged, the amount of vision loss we experience is greater than what it should be.
Although the youngster didn’t experience pain as a result, he did lose his vision almost immediately. They are hoping that the swelling caused by the laser pointer will eventually subside and some of his vision will return.
If you’re thinking that he will just be able to wear glasses to get over the problem, that is not the case. Glasses will not help that issue, just as you can’t fix a camera with a new lens when the sensor is damaged.
The type of vision that he has damaged is the central vision. That is what is straight in front of you and you use it for reading and driving and seeing the detail of what you are looking at. Once the central vision is damaged, it can’t be restored.
A warning has been issued by Optometry Tasmania and they want parents to know that laser pointers are not toys.
