This 9 year old with permanent damage I just saw will answer that with a resounding “Yes!”
Now I’m not one to bubble wrap our kiddos nor try to remove all risk from my own life. That’s no life at all. However I’m not as cool as Hunter S. Thompson:
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body…….”
There’s a balance in here somewhere.
Back to the laser pointer: if we can eliminate risk 100% with very little impact to quality of life, then it’s a no brainer. So I’ll state in no uncertain terms: no kid should ever have a laser pointer. Period.
Why? Here’s why:
On the top is his beautiful left eye which sees better than 20/20. On the bottom is his permanently damaged right macula (center of retina) limiting vision to no better than 20/40 with a fuzzy blind spot surrounding everything he looks at. Forever. No glasses, medication or surgery can repair it.
Here’s another look at his retinas with our scanning laser:
Check out the top photo in each printout and look at the bottom white line. See how it goes all the way across perfectly smooth in the left eye yet in the right eye there’s a big gaping hole? Yeah that’s a problem. You’ve probably heard of photoreceptors aka “rods and cones.” Well they ain’t there and he ain’t seeing.
That’s a steep price to pay for being eight years old and shining a laser in your eye.
Be a parent. Be an adult. Just say no to laser pointers.