Green light laser exposure at 532 nm near the exposure limit during a human volunteer vehicle driving task does not alter structure or function in the visual system

This study aimed to verify nonexistence of clinically important pathological effects to the visual system after exposure to 532 nm green laser light close to the exposure limit. The present medical surveillance of vision and visual health reported in this paper is the conjunction with a study of driver performance in the presence of 532 nm laser induced glare. The driving time varied between 25 and 55 s, depending on background luminance. The laser was on during the complete test drive. The peak corneal irradiance typically was 3.5 W·m−2 in one test drive. Considering a typical test drive, the typical time integrated corneal radiant exposure for one test drive was estimated to be 53 J·m−2. The number of test drives varied among drivers but was typically 50, thus resulting in a cumulative corneal exposure dose of approximately 2.7 kJ·m−2. Altogether, ten subjects were recruited according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. All ten subjects were examined for visual acuity, intraocular pressure, contrast sensitivity, color vision, monocular reading speed, and eye structure with clinical slit-lamp microscopy examination and indirect retinoscopy. All subjects were examined before exposure, immediately after exposure, and finally within an interval between 1 week and 4 weeks after exposure. There was no significant change of visual acuity, intraocular pressure, contrast sensitivity, color vision, or monocular reading speed between before and after exposure. No abnormal ocular structure was detected after exposure. This study demonstrates that close to exposure limit, exposure to 532 nm green laser light during a vehicle driving task does not induce structural or functional damage to the human visual system as observed in the interval minutes to weeks after exposure.