There was a fictional version of this in the Artemis Fowl books. My old camcorder picked up a lot of IR outside of visible range, but I think newer sensors are much less susceptible to this.

IIUC bright IR LEDs can harm your eyes if you stare at them too long.

Wasn't there something about how the LIDAR in self-driving cars destroys camera sensors?

Depends what your threat model is, but this will literally turn you into a glowing signal that says "hey, look at me!" Your face might be protected but anyone manually reviewing security footage will be paying way more attention.