The difficulty in creating retinal lesions in the near-infrared has been well known for many years. While it is expected that retinal lesions will not be created outside the retinal hazard regime (i.e. 400 nm – 1400 nm), the expectation is that they should be the first response of ocular tissues within that regime as laser exposure is increased. It was shown by previous authors that retinal lesions in the 1300-1400 nm range require very large powers to be created. We will elucidate the phenomena responsible for this dramatic increase in power required for retinal damage and propose new, novel mechanisms are at play for longer exposures in this interesting wavelength regime.
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The animals involved in this study were procured, maintained, and used in accordance with the Federal Animal Welfare Act and the “Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals,” prepared by the Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources - National Research Council.