Lesions of the Eye From Radiant Energy

The importance of being familiar with the harmful effects of radiant energy on the eye is self evident. This is a radiation age in which portions of the electromagnetic spectrum and atomic corpuscles of tremendous potentialities are being isolated and utilized on an increasingly large scale. The eye is physiologically attuned to receive one band of the electromagnetic spectrum, the so-called visible rays, and it appears to be unusually susceptible to the damaging influence of other bands. Indeed, with the exception of radio waves on the one end of the spectrum and cosmic rays on the other, there is no type of radiation which has not at some time induced an ocular lesion. It is the purpose of this presentation to (a) define the types of radiation (spectrum) and to indicate the more common sources which have given rise to ocular lesions, (b) discuss the transmission and absorption of radiant