Does Laser Tag Hurt Your Eyes

The boy shined the laser in his eye and suffered permanent moderate vision loss.

Does laser tag hurt your eyes.

Laser tag doesn t usually use lasers it uses transmitters leds on the target s body and the rifle is a sensor with a focussing lens and a very narrow field of view that can detect this transmitter only when it s pointing straight at it. The eye damage that a jetblue pilot suffered after two green laser beams were reportedly shined into a new york bound airplane flying at 5 000 feet this week happens because the lens of the eye. Eye damage from a pocket laser is unlikely but could be possible under certain conditions. The greater a laser pointer s output power the more likely it will cause serious eye injuries burn skin and temporarily or permanently impair the vision of pilots drivers or bystanders that much is clear.

Red laser pointers that are properly labeled in the 3 5 mw range have not caused eye damage no. But judging the safety of that laser pointer in your desk drawer or in your kid s hand isn t simple. There are different implementations for the shooting and tagging system which depend on different technologies for the. The main safety concern when it comes to playing laser tag is the risk of eye damage that could be caused by the laser beam shot from the gun.

However although the game is called laser tag actually most game zones don t use any kind of lasers at all. The quick answer is about 5 milliwatts in a 3 millimeter diameter beam for wavelengths from 1 4 microns to about 0 2 microns. 5 mw is brighter than the sun. Laser pointers are classified as either type ii or type iiia these laser pointers can have up to five milliwatts of power.

It is about the same power. Moreover eye injuries caused by laser light usually don t hurt. Damage can include but is not limited to flash blindness that can last for minutes partial vision loss that can last for months permanent damage to the retina and loss of life if the police officer who you are pointing the laser at thinks that she he is being targeted and decides to shoot you in self defense. Ultimately the damage could be permanent.

Vision can deteriorate slowly and therefore may go unnoticed for days and even weeks.