u/PrimalPrime55

I found this information 2 weeks ago after dealing with severe photophobia in one eye for 15 months. So far I've tried the Vitamin B12 eye drops, but it hurts like hell when I drop them in, so I am not continuing the treatment as it might be causing more harm than good. Something called a compound pharmacy can craft them from scratch as a custom order, or you can buy some online. The ones I was able to order living in Canada are called RenerVIX.

https://eyewiki.org/Ocular_Neuropathic_Pain

I was injured last year by one of these devices when my customer shined it at me. I'm wondering if any other drivers were either injured by a green laser pointer in Durham region, or were you flagged down by a passenger/eats customer using such a device. If either is true, did you report it to Uber?

As a public service announcement, if you see anyone pointing a laser at you, call the cops immediately and have them ID it, but you're gonna have to bend over backwards to convince them because they know squat about lasers. Tell them it is almost certainly illegal as there are no quality controls on these pointers. Health Canada pulled thousands of them off Amazon. They can either make you blind or otherwise permanently damage your eyes faster than you can blink. They are extraordinarily dangerous and should all be destroyed. Trust me, I have discovered a level of hell I couldn't even imagine, while managing my injury. I'm looking at 120 000$ for a possible experimental treatment, but I'm not even close to that stage yet, not to mention my normal life as I knew it is over. Because only a handful of doctors in the world are familiar with the dangers of laser pointers(I've done my homework), or my specific type of injury, I get to operate on the frontier of medicine. Lucky me.

Uber has been of no help, completely ignoring the matter. I even wrote a physical letter to their CEO. I gave them nearly 10 years of loyal service, and they screwed me the first chance they had.

Addendum, this is the most crucial part: You won't necessarily know you've been injured until a few hours later as was with my case, maybe even a day or two, so you "must" get the device seized for a possible investigation. I'm talking about 20-50$ laser pointers here, btw, the kind that many people have bought. These cheap devices are the real problem.

As an FYI, since literally only a few people in the world are aware of this, green laser pointers are extraordinarily dangerous. They can blind you or damage your eye nerves in a fraction of a second. Almost all of them are poorly made in China without any quality controls. If you own one, remove the battery and completely destroy it. The risk of it turning on accidentally is not worth it, if it hits you in the eye, your life will be ruined like mine is. I was injured by a moron who shined it at me, and now my normal life is over. I can't even go outside regularly like a normal person because of the extreme light sensitivity. Whenever I go out because I need to, I sacrifice my well being for the next few days, sometimes longer.

Don't own one of these things, don't be near people who are carrying one, and call the cops if some random jerk shines it at you, so you can identify the device. It will almost certainly go well beyond its rated power output. Shining a laser pointer at aircraft is a felony. The risk is that it can blind the pilot. What people don't understand, and this includes cops and doctors, is that they can permanently injure you faster than you can blink. Red laser pointers are technically safer, but again, don't trust some shady company with ensuring quality controls are in place. Consider other colors as dangerous as green lasers.

Laser pointers sold on Amazon are dangerous by default. Do not buy under any circumstances. I found one that was 15x stronger than is legally allowed. Another one burned through electrical tape.

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