警惕：永遠不要拿激光筆對著眼睛！

如果你曾經(jīng)質疑過為什么你不能將激光指示器對著你或他人的眼睛，那么就讓一個希臘的9歲男孩的遭遇成為你的警示吧：男孩反復盯著他正在把玩的綠色激光指示器，結果視網(wǎng)膜上被燒出一個洞!

And the damage may be permanent.

損害可能是永久性的。

The boy's parents took him to the ophthalmology clinic when he started complaining of difficulty seeing out of the left eye. His doctors assessed his visual acuity - he still had 20/20 vision in his right eye, but his left eye had dropped to 20/100.

當男孩開始向父母抱怨，他左眼視物困難時，父母立刻帶他前往眼科診所就醫(yī)。醫(yī)生檢查了他的視力——右眼仍然有20/20水平的視力，但他的左眼視力水平已下降到20/100。

When the doctors examined the boy, they found a large hole in the macula - the central area of the retina, where light is focussed from the front of the eye. It's responsible for colour vision and visual acuity.

當醫(yī)生檢查這個男孩眼底時，他們在黃斑區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個大洞。那里是視網(wǎng)膜的中央?yún)^(qū)域，光線在此處聚焦。它負責色覺和視敏度。

Macular holes are not uncommon in the elderly, so the effects are well known - they affect the centre of your vision, or what is right in front of your eyes. Not far from the hole, the doctors found two additional spots of further injury.

黃斑區(qū)病變在老年人中并不罕見，因此癥狀為大眾所知——常常出現(xiàn)視力下降、眼前黑影或視物變形。。在離洞不遠的地方，醫(yī)生還發(fā)現(xiàn)了其他兩處傷口。

Retinal injuries from laser pointers are actually shockingly common - so much so that there are diagnostic criteria for helping to determine when eye injuries have been caused by the devices.

激光指示器造成的視網(wǎng)膜損傷實際上非常普遍——因此有很多診斷標準可以幫助確定激光灼燒引起眼外傷的時間。

And it doesn't take long to cause damage, either: just one minute of exposure to a 5mW laser pointer caused significant damage to a 13-year-old boy's eyes, recorded in a 2012 case report.

實際上，激光也不需要很長時間就能造成實質性的損害：在2012年的一份案例報告中記錄道，5mW激光指示器僅僅在一分鐘之內(nèi)就會對一名13歲男孩的眼睛造成嚴重損害。

His eyes healed, but another 13-year-old boy, according to a 2015 case report, was not so lucky. His brother had ordered a 50mW laser pointer from the internet, and shone it into the patient's eyes for one second - causing permanent eye damage.

根據(jù)2015年的病例報告，他的眼睛最終痊愈了，但是另一名13歲的男孩就沒有那么幸運。13歲的小患者有一個兄弟，他從互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上訂購了一支50mW的激光指示器，并將其照射到患者的眼睛中一秒鐘——造成了眼部永久性的損傷。

In the US, there's a 5mW power limit on laser pointers, regulated by the FDA. In Britainand Australia, regulations are even more stringent, limiting the devices to just 1mW. To use anything stronger, you need a permit.

在美國，由美國食品和藥物管理局(FDA)監(jiān)管的激光指示器功率限制為5mW。在英國和澳大利亞，法規(guī)更加嚴格，將設備限制在1mW。要想使用更功率更強的設備，你需要申請許可證。

But that doesn't stop consumers from purchasing higher powered laser pointers from the internet.

但這并不能阻止消費者從互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上購買更高功率的激光指示器。

The doctors didn't specify the strength of the laser pointer that damaged the boy's eye, but it's possible they didn't know it; his father had purchased it from a street vendor, Fox News reports, and it could have been mislabelled.

醫(yī)生沒有說明燒傷男孩眼睛的激光筆的額定功率，或許他們可能也不知道;據(jù)?？怂剐侣剤蟮?，他的父親是從街頭小販那里購買的，而且可能貼錯了標簽。

The hole in the boy's macula, the doctors said, was too large to be treated with surgery, which is how it is often treated in elderly patients, and they recommended conservative management instead. But it seems like the damage has been done.

醫(yī)生說，男孩黃斑上的洞太大，不能接受手術治療，而這是對老年患者經(jīng)常采用的治療手段，所以他們只能建議保守治療。但似乎損傷已經(jīng)不可逆轉。

"The patient's vision has remained unchanged during 18 months of follow-up," the doctors wrote.

“在18個月的隨訪期間，患者的視力未有好轉。”他的醫(yī)生寫道。