What Are the Dangers of Retinal Scanners?

Security equipment is constantly evolving and changing, and increasingly looks more like the props from science fiction films. Offices with high security needs can use retinal scanners to grant employees access to their workspaces or computers. These devices scan the unique patterns of a person’s retina to ensure that the correct individual can access restricted areas or information, and most experts agree that retinal scanners pose no health risk or other dangers to users.

How Retinal Scans Work

A retina scan is exactly what it sounds like: a machine that looks below your iris to scan the retina at the base of your eyeball. Since each person’s retina is unique, the scan offers security akin to a fingerprint -- only retinas cannot be copied. The scanner emits a low-level beam of light to illuminate the back of eye while the user looks into a small eyepiece for about 30 seconds. The light isn’t harmful to the eye; it’s the same technology that ophthalmologists use when checking for glaucoma, or that hospitals use in scanning for diabetes.

Health Risks

Retinal scans are often used in health scanning procedures -- to identify communicable diseases including AIDS, chicken pox and malaria -- and to scan for hereditary diseases including various types of cancers. The scan itself poses no threat to the eye or to your overall health, though users of retinal scans complain of discomfort from the technology as they must lean in and keep their eye close to the machine for 30 seconds in order for a scan to be accurate.

Applications for Retinal Scans

Retinal scanners are most often used in high-security offices, and in particular, government offices. You can use a retinal scanner at an entry point of an office or as a means of unlocking a computer or machine. When setting up retinal scans, employees must have images of their eyes taken for identification purposes -- a process that some people describe as uncomfortable but has no proven health risks or dangers. Because retinal scanners need approximately 30 seconds to complete a scan, they are considered low-volume devices that can’t process a high number of employees at once.

Known Issues

Retinal scan technology is not without its drawbacks. According to a SANS Institute report, users of the technology have complained that the enrollment process -- where each person submits to a detailed retinal scan for the purpose of cataloging their identity -- is uncomfortable and intrusive. Users fear -- without scientific backup -- that the infrared light used in the scan damages their vision. Other optical recognition technology like iris scans, which take a grayscale photo of the iris, are considered less intrusive and are proven to be much faster.