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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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How To Check For Damage In Eyes?

How are you? I’m really hoping that somebody can help me. I was operating a Nextscan Flexscan microfiche scanner from January 12th, 2012, to September 6th 2012. The light source in the scanner was a high powered red LED, operating at 633 nm of light. I operated this machine 40 hours a week for 8 months straight. The machine has an opening in the front and top of the machine, and the light would beam directly into the operator’s eyes. I took close to 80,000 direct hits to the eye during that time frame, and another 50,000 indirect hits to the eye from light bouncing off various shiny parts of the machine. I was scanning microfiche which is a negative image. There were anywhere between 5 and 35 or more microfiche images per card. I scanned over 80,000 cards. That is 80,000 direct hits to the eye with a bright red high powered LED. The color sensors in the human eye are light sensitive cells called cones. As mentioned elsewhere in this discussion, there are three types of cones, called red, green, and blue after the portion of the visible spectrum they are most sensitive to. As the names imply, the red cones are most sensitive to red and wavelengths near red, the green cones are most sensitive to green and wavelengths near green, and the blue cones are most sensitive to blue and wavelengths near blue. Our eyes are able to look around a scene and dynamically adjust based on subject matter, whereas cameras capture a single still image. Scanners and cameras also have sensors for red, green, and blue. And, as with the human eye, each category of sensor is sensitive to a range of wavelengths. If the sensitivity to each wavelength for the three types of sensors were identical to the sensitivity for the three types of cones in the human eye, it would probably be fairly easy to design a scanner or camera that could easily match the color perception of the human eye. But the available sensors don’t match the human eye’s sensitivity for each color very well. (PC Magazine). Microfiche scanners also use a digital camera to produce an image from the microfiche card. A microfiche scanner also has a lens system to project an image to the camera. Light from a light source passes through the microfiche cards. The image that reaches the lens is transferred to the camera. When the light would beam me in the eyes, it too had already passed through the microfiche card images. Wouldn’t the microfiche images also be projected onto my eye or lens much like the cameras? Could getting beamed in the eyes with this light for 17 seconds, 22 seconds, and 28 second intervals 80,000 times over the course of 8 months overload my senses? I woke up September 6th of 2012 I was blinded by so much glare I could not see. I went to the eye doctor, but he wasn’t convinced that it was caused from the light source. But he didn’t even really take much time to listen to what I was trying to tell him. He said I had near sightedness, and we needed to keep a watch on Glaucoma or AMD. Prior to operating this scanner I did not have any vision problems. I was immediately pulled from the project in September 2012. Every time I went to see this eye doctor over the course of 3 weeks period, he kept writing new prescriptions, each time the prescriptions getting weaker. I finally quit going to him because he wasn’t listening to me, and my vision was improving. After about 4 weeks my vision did return to somewhat normal, but I still have some sort of perceptual problems. There is no physical medical damage to my eye. No burns, holes it retina, or anything that the eye doctor can see. But my visions has been effected. It’s been 2 ½ years since I was temporarily blinded for 4 weeks. But I still get ghost images at times, but they are in negative form. If I walk into a room and sun is shining through the window. I see it properly, but then I also see a negative ghost image over it. Where the light is showing through it’s dark, and places that are dark are now showing light. If I look at my computer too long and walk away. I will still see a ghost image of my screen, but once again in negative form. Since the microfiche is in negative form, could that have some correlation to why I see negative ghost images in my vision? What is a safe amount of light, compared to a dangerous level of exposure from a LED light? I scanned a little over 80,000 microfiche cards. An average of 1,250 cards per day. That means I would have direct exposure to the light beaming me in the eyes for 212 minutes per day for 2 line scans, 128 minutes per day for 3 line scans, and 70 minute of 4 line scans. Making up an 8 hour day. 40 hours per week. 8 months straight. Minus holidays and weekends. Is there any testing that can be performed to help me determine if perceptual damage was caused, without causing any physical damage to the eye?
Mon, 4 May 2015
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How To Check For Damage In Eyes?