Originally Posted by jpfromla View Post
In the United States, lasers are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Lasers typically have a warning label alerting the consumer to the danger. Most lasers used in toys and games are labeled type I. Type I lasers have a power output of under .4 milliwatts and are incapable of damaging the retina. Most laser pointers are classified as type II or IIIA and have a power output of between 1 to 5 milliwatts. Theoretically, that is enough power to damage the retina. A paper published in the journal Ophthalmology in 1997 demonstrated retinal damage with continuous exposure to light from a laser pointer in as little as 10 seconds. In practice it would be difficult to damage the eye because the eye makes lots of tiny eye movements causing it to be almost impossible to achieve 10 seconds of continuous exposure. No cases of permanent damage from laser pointers labeled type II or IIIA have been reported in the literature.

http://www.pattyvisioncenters.com/20...urt-your-eyes/