100mW Laser Pointer Eye Exposure

As said in the title, I accidentally hit my self with a 100mW green laser pointer for a fraction of a second. After that, I have a grey spot in my vision in the left eye which is still there after one week. Right after I was hit by the laser (it was point blank by the way) I went to the hospital and they sent me to ophthalmology . They tested the visual acuity of both my eyes. My left eye which was hit is 20/20 and my right eye is 20/25. When they looked at my retina, they saw a very small dot which they said looked like a solar burn. I'm very lucky the grey spot is not in my central vision and it is very small but still noticeable. They said at the moment they can't give me a prognosis which makes me feel very uncomfortable. My question is, will the spot in my vision gradually disappear?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

In most cases it does, especially with such short exposure time.

JCH MD

[marlo1204]

What I am worried about is the spot hasnt changed in my vision for a week. I'm going to the opthalmologist again in 3 weeks. I don't mean to be pessimistic but I feel like it will never go away and my retina will have a burn spot for life.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Only time will tell, just like after burns to the body its hard to tell how much scarring will be permanent.
JCH MD

[marlo1204]

So is it possible for damage on the retina to heal?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

I said in my first answer most of these spots eventually go away over a period of weeks to many months. Some are permanent. I have no other comments and nothing further to add. No one can tell at this point.
JCH MD

[floaterp]

maybe he needs some high doase of streoids to avoid permanent scars.
I read somewhere that oral steroids or injections of steroids helps healing of industerial laser injuries but it should be done as soon as posible.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

High doses of steroids has not been shown to be effective, this late after the injury the only you likely would do is expose yourself to the dangers and side effects of high dose steroids.

JCH MD

[scheeler]

I know this isn't exactly the same thing, but I had retinal damage that cleared up. Rather than laser, though, it was caused by a cryogenic probe used to protect my retina when the vitreous bag was being teased away from it (this is called cryoretinopexy). Anyway, it gave me a black patch in my peripheral vision that was about the size of my fist at arm's length.

It was very distressing, but after four months it had reduced to a brownish stain that only appeared for a second or so if I closed my eye and opened it again, and a few months after that, it was gone completely.

[floaterp]

scheeler, I know at least 3 persons who had cryo and all of them fully recovered after a year from scotomas (blind spots).

and for laser eye injuries and management, please read these  :
http://www.aao.org/publications/eyenet/200903/retina.cfm?RenderForPrint=1&

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/5935661_Steroidal_and_nonsteroidal_antiinflammatory_medications_can_improve_photoreceptor_survival_after_laser_retinal_photocoagulation

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

From the first paper: (2012)

Tailoring treatment. Evidence indicates some benefit to treating the injury as soon as possible after exposure, but determining the best treatment is not so straightforward. Dr. Scales primarily uses oral or IV steroids for severe or acute laser injuries, particularly YAG injuries. “There is no standard approach for treatment. Some studies indicate that steroids might be counterproductive and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may be the best alternative,” he said.

The second paper (2006) was done on monkeys, the exposure was much higher than the poster here and treatment was started immediately after treatment.

As I said at this pointment no treatment is likely the best, safest and least expensive and your scotomoma or at least the awareness of it may fade or disappear with time.

JCH MD