Laser beams consist of highly collimated light, meaning they are concentrated into a narrow beam. This concentration significantly raises the temperature in the eye, denaturing the protein in the eye’s tissue and resulting in burns. Laser light can be orders of magnitude more damaging than ordinary light due to its focused nature, sometimes even more harmful than direct sunlight.

Though lasers can also burn the skin, the eyes are more vulnerable. Lasers vary in wavelength, ranging from ultraviolet to infrared. The human eye can only see the visible spectrum, making infrared lasers especially dangerous as they are invisible to the naked eye. This invisibility can lead to complacency among workers, who might forget or ignore the laser beam’s path, inadvertently exposing themselves. Infrared beams, being invisible, do not trigger the eye’s blink reflex, allowing the beam to pass through the cornea, lens, and pupil to reach the retina, causing severe burns and potential blind spots.