The Threshold of the Retina to Damage by Laser Energy

Abstract

The laser is one of the more important recent developments in the field of the physical sciences. Research on lasers and their application is progressing on an ever widening base with an increasing number of actively participating personnel. The unique laser qualities and the ocular hazards associated with them mean that the determination of safety standards is an urgent problem. It is essential that data be provided which specify just how much laser energy is tolerated safely by the human retina. This investigation is a study of the laser energy required to produce lesions in the retinas of rabbit and human eyes just detectable by ophthalmoscopy. Energy values will be specified which represent the threshold for damage to the human retina. Previous Reports Three publications, which have been concerned with the energy necessary to produce coagulations near threshold value, merit comment.^1-3 In the first of these, a carbon jet-arc