Survey of laser injury

Laser use is pervasive and steadily expanding both in the private sector and the Department of Defense (DoD). For more than 20 years, Rockwell Laser Industries, the U.S. Army, and the Food and Drag Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health and have separately collected data on injuries occurring during, or resultant from, the use of lasers. However, data from these sources is incomplete and has not recently undergone a thorough compiling, statistical analysis, review and summarization. It is our belief that in order to evaluate current related medical surveillance, safety and training procedures, this data needs such an examination. Persons maintaining these databases were contacted and any available data on laser injury was collected. The data was analyzed and examined for pertinent similarities and differences among a wide range of parameters. We summarize these findings in this paper and also comment on the injuries, current safety measures and injury reporting protocols associated with laser use.