…or is it all scaremongering
I asked an optometrist in the UK is eye damage from lasers was a real thing, here’s what they told me:
“What do you mean it’s not happening, it’s happening.”
For damage to occur a person needs to look directly at the laser while the beam hits their eye. It’s similar to the damage that is caused from looking directly at the sun.
Often a person will be unaware their eye has been damaged. When they become aware and come to an optometrist there is nothing that can be done, there is no treatment. The cells in the retina usually, but can be cornea also, are destroyed, they never regenerate.
If it could be proven then the manufacturer of that laser or the operator could be sued, but you’d need to be able to prove they caused it of course.
There is no reporting to a centralised body he is aware of that would be tracking this kind of incident. They do have procedures in place for such reporting, but to his knowledge it is only used for drug unexpected consequences type of issues. He was not aware of anything for the reporting of laser damage.