Hook is spot on. When we are talking about permanent eye damage, military grade class 4 lasers are the issue. You can get such devices privately, but it is not common, and as was mentioned, you wouldn't know that you were hit by one in the first place. One of the big things that happens with a real powerful laser hitting your eye, is that the initially damaged tissue will leak blood which comes to rest in the bottom of your eye. The blood will basically oxidize or eat away the tissue underneath it (the retina). There are medical ways to blot that up and stop the chemical reaction, but left unchecked, it will cause serious and lasting damage. Lens damage will either heal or can be fixed with corrective surgery, but there is nothing that medical science can really do to fix retinal damage. Theoretically the same effects could be seen with a lower grade device, but NOHD (Nominal Ocular Hazard Distance) is much shorter for something like a more readily available class 2 or 3 laser. That and the wavelength is generally different thus allowing the eye reflex.
