In our study, III-nitride laser diodes with uncoated facets obtained by cleavage show a much faster degradation than coated ones. An increase in threshold current and drop of slope efficiency suggest increased absorption losses. Degradation experiments in different atmospheres prove the influence of the respective atmosphere and indicate the growth of an oxide film leading to increased absorption. Because the observed degradation is insensitive to the photon density we suggest nonradiative centers, which are saturated at low photon densities, to be at the origin of degradation. No evidence for photon enhanced degradation of coated laser diodes was found. A dielectric coating efficiently protects the facets. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.