Laser pointer burns hole in boy's retina

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Laser pointer burns hole in boy's retina

A 9-year-old boy burned a hole in his retina by repeatedly looking into a green laser pointer, which doctors discovered after he began complaining of decreased vision.

A 9-year-old boy burned a hole in his retina by repeatedly looking into a green laser pointer, which doctors discovered after he began complaining of decreased vision. In a case report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors said they discovered a large macular hole in his left eye during a funduscopic exam.

As a result, the child, who was not identified and lives in Greece, was determined to have 20/100 vision in his left eye, compared to 20/20 in his right. The report did not identify what kind of laser pointer the boy was playing with, but said that powerful lasers remain accessible on the Internet. They also opted to observe the injury rather than surgically fix it.

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“Because of the large diameter of the macular hole and the accompanying atrophy in this patient, we favored conservative management rather than surgery,” the doctors wrote. “The patient’s vision has remained unchanged during 18 months of follow-up.”