65 people suffer vision loss due to laser lights during Ganesh Chaturthi procession

MUMBAI: In an untoward incident, 65 people suffer vision loss after dancing under intense laser light. The incident took place in Mumbai's Kolhapur during a Ganesh Chaturthi procession. As per the association of ophthalmologists of Kolhapur district, 65 people lost their sight in the last twelve days.

The lasers on the floats used for the procession caused the tragic accident. Prolonged laser exposure to the eye can cause hormonal changes, leading to hypoglycemia (low blood glucose). Moreover, those who spent a long time in the laser is likely to suffer bleeding in the retina of the eye and this would cause loss of vision.

Dr Abhijit Tagore, head of the organization, said that most of the visually impaired are young people. Symptoms such as eye swelling, irritation, dry eyes and headache were seen in the youth. He clarified that they would need treatment to regain their vision and in some cases surgery would be required, but the cost of this would be very high.

Ultra-intense laser lights are used for medical and commercial purposes. But even a slight mistake in this is a great danger to the human body. The intensity of such lights should be less than ten watts. These shouldn't be used at the same place for too long. The doctors say that it should not fall directly into human eyes.