Functional Assessment of Laser Irradiation.
Abstract
A method for eliciting voluntary fixate on a Landolt test target in an awake, task-oriented rhesus monkey is described. During fixation, the subject was exposed to a 100 msec laser flash which produced a spot size of 150 micrometer centered on the fovea. Foveal exposure was triggered by the subject's correct detection of threshold targets presented under maximum photopic conditions and were produced by aligning a laser beam such that it was coaxial with the discriminanda in a Landolt ring. Immediate following exposure, a rapid technique for the measurement of visual acuity was used to assess functional degradation. The results demonstrated that foveal exposures produced an immediate acuity deficit of from 40 to 60 percent in visual performance and that this maximum deficit was independent of exposure power. Total recovery time and the duration of the maximum deficit were monotonically related to exposure power up to the threshold for permanent functional damage. A permanent functional deficit was produced with the second of two exposures at 11 mW in one subject. Implications for accidental human exposures are presented. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1974
- Accession Number
- ADA022772
Entities
People
- David O. Robbins