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Greece: 9-year-old "repeatedly gazing" into laser causes hole in his eye

A 9-year-old boy in Greece suffered serious, permanent damage to his left eye, after “repeatedly gazing” into a green beam from a laser pointer. (Note: This is not unknown. As of June 21 2018, LaserPointerSafety.com has reported on around 15 other cases of self-inflicted eye injuries.)

The most serious injury that the boy caused was a large hole in his macula, shown with the yellow arrows.

Pic 2018-06-21 at 8.59.23 PM

Two other areas of injury were not immediately visible in a funduscopic exam of the retina (photo A, using ordinary white light) but were clearly visible using fundus autofluorescence imaging (blue arrows in photo B, using a narrow wavelength of light). The round area to the left in both photos is the optic disc, a natural feature where the optic nerve begins — it is not laser damage.

The macula is where central vision occurs. The fact that the injury occurred in the macula indicates that the boy looked directly into the laser light with his left eye. Damage to the macula is serious as this area provides high resolution, color vision in the center of the visual field.

The injury reduced the boy’s vision to 20/100 in the injured left eye; his right eye remained at 20/20. The boy’s ophthalmologists felt the hole was too large and too much time had passed since the injury for surgery. (The doctors suspected that the boy had injured his eye at least a year earlier.) Because surgery might make things worse, causing a cataract without improving the macula, they “favored conservative management.”

There was no improvement in vision even 1 1/2 years after the injury was first presented to the ophthalmologists.

The power of the laser pointer, and other details of the incident, were not described in the one-paragraph report published June 21 2018. One of the authors told CNN the boy’s father “had bought the laser as a toy from a street merchant.”

From the New England Journal of Medicine (N Engl J Med 2018; 378:2420, DOI: 10.1056/NEJMicm1714488) Authors: Sofia Androudi, M.D., Ph.D., and Eleni Papageorgiou, M.D., Ph.D. Additional reporting by CNN. This story was picked up by many other news sites around the world.

Greece: Protesters use laser against police

During protests in Greece, laser beams were aimed at police. The photo below is from a gallery of protest photos.

Greece protester laser beam police Nov 2017


The protests marked the 44th anniversary of a 1973 student uprising against the military dictatorship.

Reuters photo from Telesur

Greece: Laser pointers continue to be used in riots

Laser pointers continue to be used during demonstrations in Athens, in mid-February 2012. The photo below accompanied a February 13 Reuters story.

Pic 2012-02-20 at 9.44.24 AM
Two separate lasers are being used, possibly held by the same person. One beam is aimed at the row of riot police at lower left, the other’s target is out of the camera frame. A more detailed version can be seen at the
Toledo Blade; click on the small photo to see it larger.

The Reuters story described burning buildings, smoke plumes, tear gas, hurled stones, petrol bombs and stun grenades. Fourteen protesters and eight policemen were injured, and more than 50 protesters were treated for breathing problems due to tear gas. The story did not mention laser pointers, so it is unknown the extent of their use, what effect they may have had on the situation, and whether any persons were injured or sought treatment.

A photo from the Associated Press was published February 20, showing green laser light directly in the eyes of a riot policeman. The accompanying AP story briefly discussed demonstrations, and did not mention laser pointer use.

Pic 2012-02-20 at 9.35.30 AM


Reuters story as published in the Otago Daily Times; AP story as published in the Toledo Blade. Previous LaserPointerSafety.com news items about laser use during riots, including protests in Greece, are listed here.
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Greece: UK teen stabbed to death after laser pen harassment

A 19-year-old British citizen, on holiday in Greece, was stabbed and killed by a taxi driver angry after the teen and his friends aimed lasers at the driver.

Robert Sebbage and his friends had been shining lasers at taxis waiting in line outside a nightclub. The teens were rushed by two angry taxi drivers, brandishing a knife and a baseball bat. Sebbage was killed; Jordan Manson, 18, was taken to a hospital where he was operated on for stab wounds to the chest and neck. Three other teens were also taken to the hospital, with less serious injuries.

Taxi driver Stelios Morfis, 21, was charged with premeditated murder. A second driver was also arrested as an accomplice.

The stabbing happened in a resort town, Laganas, located on the Greek island of Zakynthos (Zante). The Telegraph noted that “in Laganas, the antics of young British tourists on ‘non-stop party’ holiday packages have provoked growing criticism from the Greek authorities and local residents.”

From The Telegraph. Thanks to Dr. Phil Tyley, Laser Safety Advisor, Senior Scientist, QinetiQ for bringing this to our attention.

UPDATE July 18 2011: Jordan Manson’s parents describe the attack to The Mirror.

Greece: Demonstrators use lasers against police and to write on building

Greek protesters used laser pointers extensively during peaceful demonstrations against fiscal austerity measures, in June 2011 at the Parliament building in Athens.


A view of the crowd (AP via
Yahoo News)


Laser pointers were aimed at the police (DPA via
Spiegel)


Green and red pointers were also aimed at the Parliament building, where the dots from red pointers spelled the Greek word for “thieves.” (DPA via
Spiegel)

Greece: Laser pointer used during riot

During riots in Athens, a protester uses a laser pointer against a Greek riot policeman. (See also this News item from 2011 Greek riots.)



From
Wired and the Boston Globe (scroll down to photo #24 to see larger and read caption)

Greece: Protesters use laser pointer against police

Riot police have a laser pointer aimed at them, during protests in Greece on Feb. 8 2011. Click to see full-size photo. (See also this News item from 2008 Greek riots.)



From MSNBC Photoblog