Up to 10% of all combat casualties involve eye injuries which are becoming more severe, bilateral and likely to lead to a retained intraocular foreign body. The modern battlefield is permeated with laser radiation from range finders, target designators and perhaps laser weapons aimed at producing visual incapacitation. In future wars, therefore, the likelihood of eye injuries is very high. We sought to devise means to protect the eye from military relevant injurious agents. Almost all ballistic injuries can be prevented by using polycarbonate goggles. They must not, however, interfere with the soldier's functions such as the use of binoculars or limit his visual fields. These problems are not insurmountable and we shall demonstrate new goggles design which we believe will be acceptable to the troops. The solution to laser protection is more difficult. For that purpose the goggles include outserts filters for various groups of laser wavelengths. The soldier will use the appropriate filter according to a reading from a laser detector which will indicate which filter is protective against the wavelength detected.

Date Published: 1 April 1996
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 2674, Laser-Inflicted Eye Injuries: Epidemiology, Prevention, and Treatment, (1 April 1996); doi: 10.1117/12.237508

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2674:
Laser-Inflicted Eye Injuries: Epidemiology, Prevention, and Treatment
Bruce E. Stuck; Michael Belkin M.D., Editor(s)