Eye Injury with a Ball Pistol in Children

Overview

Eye injuries by guns such as air guns may be very serious. At the Ophthalmologic Clinic of the Faculty Hospitalin Brno the authors recorded recently an alarming number of these injuries. In the course of 8 months they treated21 patients aged 7 to 14 years, two of them at least have serious permanent damage of eyesight. The most frequentmanifestation of injury in these patients was hyphaema (95.3%), erosion of the cornea (33.3%) and oedema of theepithelium (23.8%). The authors recorded also iridodialysis and traumatic cataract. The rate of eye injuries witha ball gun treated at the Ophthalmological Child Clinic of the Faculty Hospital in Brno is markedly higher ascompared with data reported abroad. It may be assumed that this is due to the low level of information of theparents on the danger of these pistols which are often mistaken for toys. These pistols are however rather weaponsthan toys. Despite this they are given to children. Thus frequently rules on the use of weapons are infringed. Theauthors address the paediatric public, who in their opinion can improve the conditions by health education amongparents and potential child patients.

Key words:
ball pistol, eye injury, eyesight damage