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DOI: 10.1055/a-0828-7449
OCT-Angiography as a Help in the Diagnosis of a Laser Pointer Retinal Injury: A Case Report
OCT-Angiografie ist eine Hilfe in der Diagnosestellung einer Netzhautverletzung durch Laserpointer: ein FallberichtPublication History
received 19 September 2018
accepted 18 December 2018
Publication Date:
20 February 2019 (online)
![](https://www.thieme-connect.de/media/klimo/201904/lookinside/thumbnails/10-1055-a-0828-7449_klm0103-1.jpg)
Background
Despite the campaigns to increase public education and impose punishments for laser pointer use, increasing cases of retinal injuries resulting from these devices have been reported. The volume of reported laser incidents increased from 46 in 2004 to more than 3000 per year since 2010 [1]. The greatest concerns are raised by reports of unsupervised children who received these lasers as toys and exposed themselves to the laser beams, causing permanent retinal injury. From 2000 to 2009, there were 5 reports of 18 patients with injuries due to laser pointer exposure [2], [3]. The vast majority of cases involved males younger than age 18 years, including one child as young as 9 years [3], [4]. The degree of damage varies depending on the laserʼs wavelength and exposure time [5]. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) has now become a key diagnostic tool, revealing lesions in the external retina and the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) with possible healing over time. Differential diagnosis includes various pigment epitheliopathies including macular dystrophies. This report describes optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) longitudinal findings in a case with acute and subacute macular injury due to a green laser pointer.
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