Comparison of laser induced corneal injury thresholds with safety limits for the wavelength range of 1200–1500 nm

A computer model predicting thresholds for laser induced corneal injury was used to systematically analyze wavelength, pulse duration, and beam diameter dependencies for wavelengths between 1200 and 1500 nm, for the exposure duration regime of 10 μs to 100 s. The thresholds were compared with the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) values to protect the cornea as specified in ANSI Z136.1-2022, ICNIRP 2013, and IEC 60825-1:2014. In the wavelength range between 1200 and 1400 nm, the dominant hazard transitions from the retina to the cornea. Consequently, limits are needed to protect both the cornea and the retina. In the lower wavelength range, the retinal limits are more conservative, while in the higher wavelength range, the corneal limits are lower. Comparison with injury thresholds shows that ANSI MPEs include a large safety margin for all wavelengths. Due to the 7 mm aperture stop defined in IEC 60825-1, levels permitted by the Class 3B limit exceed the predicted injury thresholds for small beam diameters and wavelengths between approximately 1350 and 1400 nm. The Class 3B limit does not appear to be sufficiently protective for these conditions. For skin MPEs, the margin between corneal injury thresholds and MPEs decreases steadily for wavelengths approaching 1400 nm. However, normal eye movements can be expected to reduce the effective exposure so that skin MPEs may serve as adequate limits to protect the cornea for wavelengths less than 1400 nm until a specific limit to protect the cornea is promulgated by ICNIRP.