B737 captain reported being targeted by a laser on a visual approach to sfo that later resulted in a...

Narrative:

During the FMS bridge visual approach to 28R at sfo we were illuminated by a green laser for approximately 20 seconds at an altitude of 2500 feet approximately 8 miles out. The direction of the laser came from the 9-930 position wnw [west-northwest] of the san carlos airport. I was distracted by the light initially and while looking in its direction was illuminated for a couple seconds. My first officer saw it and looked away. I said something about the light and it didn't register to me as to what it was. The light moved slightly to the front of the aircraft and I reactively looked back towards the area and was immediately illuminated again. Total exposure to my eyes about 3-4 seconds. Tower was notified when we realized what it was. Approach and landing was normal. Felt slight discomfort in my left eye in the middle of the night. Upon waking up; decided to go to emergency room. Acuity in left eye was degraded to 20/40; right eye normal 20/20.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reported being targeted by a laser on a visual approach to SFO that later resulted in a trip to the emergency room and degraded visual acuity.

Narrative: During the FMS Bridge Visual approach to 28R at SFO we were illuminated by a green laser for approximately 20 seconds at an altitude of 2500 feet approximately 8 miles out. The direction of the laser came from the 9-930 position WNW [west-northwest] of the San Carlos airport. I was distracted by the light initially and while looking in its direction was illuminated for a couple seconds. My First Officer saw it and looked away. I said something about the light and it didn't register to me as to what it was. The light moved slightly to the front of the aircraft and I reactively looked back towards the area and was immediately illuminated again. Total exposure to my eyes about 3-4 seconds. Tower was notified when we realized what it was. Approach and landing was normal. Felt slight discomfort in my left eye in the middle of the night. Upon waking up; decided to go to emergency room. Acuity in left eye was degraded to 20/40; right eye normal 20/20.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1221445
Time
Date	201411
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SFO.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 250 Flight Crew Total 15000 Flight Crew Type 600
Events
Anomaly	Other laser

B737 captain reported being targeted by a laser on a visual approach to sfo that later resulted in a trip to the emergency room and degraded visual acuity.