A Case of Retinal Injury During a Laser Show

Jun Woo Chun; Young Jun Jang; Seung Woo Lee

doi:10.3341/jkos.2011.52.11.1377

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Chun, Jang, and Lee: A Case of Retinal Injury During a Laser Show

Original Article

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2011;52(11):1377-1380.

Published online: 7 September 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2011.52.11.1377

A Case of Retinal Injury During a Laser Show

Jun Woo Chun, MD, Young Jun Jang, MD, Seung Woo Lee, MD

Department of Ophthalmology, Gyeongju Hospital, Dongguk University College of Medicine, Gyeongju, Korea

Address reprint requests to Seung Woo Lee, MD Department of Ophthalmology, Dongguk University Gyeongju Hospital #1090-1 Seokjang-dong, Gyeongju 780-350, Korea Tel: 82-54-770-8256, Fax: 82-54-772-9618, E-mail: meinkamf@hanmir.com

Received 27 December 2010 Revised 12 April 2011 Accepted 27 September 2011

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

To report a case of macular injury after exposure to a high energy laser beam used in a laser show.

Case

A 19-year-old female presented 2 days after exposure to a high energy laser beam at a laser show in a night club with decreased vision in her right eye. The patient's best corrected visual acuity of the right eye was hand motion. Fundus examination reveald a retinal swelling in the macular area approximately 5 disc diameter in size and a submacular hemorrhage. Fluorescein angiography of the right eye showed marked hypofluorescence in the macular area and optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed a neurosensory retinal detachment with a macular edema. Three years after exposure, the visual acuity of the right eye improved to 20/600. The fundus revealed scar and depigmented area at the macula.

Conclusions

High-energy laser devices at laser shows should be used carefully with safety education and strict control and can provoke irreversible eye damage if not managed adequately.

Keywords: Laser, Laser Show, Retinal Injury

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Figure 1.

(A) Initial fundus photograph of the right eye, two days after exposure showed about a five disc diameter sized retinal swelling at the macula and a submacular hemorrhage. (B) Initial fluorescein angiograph of the right eye, two days after exposure to laser beam showed a marked hypofluorescence area at the macula.

Figure 2.

Optical coherence tomograph (OCT) of the right eye, two days after exposure to laser beam. There was neurosensory retinal detachment with a macular edema.

Figure 3.

Fundus photographs (A) One month after exposure, fundus photography revealed subretinal exudates and macular edema. (B) Three years later, fundus photography revealed a rounded, slightly irregular depigmented area with well defined margin and scar at the macula.

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