ABSTRACT
Purpose: Ocular trauma is a major cause of acquired monocular blindness in children. Firework injuries account for 20% of ocular trauma. The purpose of our study was to document the profile of ocular firework injuries in children during the festive season of Diwali and to determine the prevalence of unilateral blindness in them. Materials and Methods: A retrospective chart analysis of ocular firework injury in children during the festival of Diwali from 2009 to 2013, conducted in a tertiary care eye center in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. Children below 18 years of age with ocular firework injuries who presented to the emergency department for 3 consecutive days ‑ the day of Diwali, 1 day before, and 1 day after Diwali ‑ were included in this study. Results: Eighty‑four children presented with firework‑related ocular injuries during the study period. Male to female ratio was 4:1 with mean age 9.48 ± 4 years. Forty‑four percentage required hospitalization. The prevalence of unilateral blindness in children due to fireworks was found to be 8% (95% confidence interval ‑ 2–13%). Conclusion: Vision 2020 gives high priority to avoidable blindness, especially in children. In our study, for every 12 children who presented with firecracker injury, one resulted in unilateral blindness. This is an avoidable cause of blindness. Awareness needs to be created, and changes in policy regarding sales and handling of firecrackers including mandatory use of protective eyewear should be considered.
ABSTRACT
Facial injury by firework is not rare, but there are few reports on oral firework explosion injury. The authors of this article present a case of an 18-year-old male with intraoral injury from a firework explosion with literature review.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Humans , Male , Burns , Explosions , Facial Injuries , MouthABSTRACT
We report a large series of ocular injuries caused by fire-crackers. This study was a hospital-based, singlecenter, retrospective case series in which the records of 51 patients with ocular injuries were analyzed. Injuries were classified according to Birmingham eye trauma terminology system (BETTS). Visual outcomes before and after the intervention were recorded. Ten patients were admitted for further management. As ocular firecracker injuries result in significant morbidity, public education regarding proper use of firecrackers may help in reducing the incidence of ocular injuries.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Blast Injuries/pathology , Child , Explosions , Eye Injuries/etiology , Eye Injuries/pathology , Eye Injuries/therapy , Female , Holidays , Humans , India , Male , Middle Aged , Young AdultABSTRACT
By tradition, the Filipinos combine the Western New Year with the Asian custom of exploding fireworks. To estimate the number of injuries associated with fireworks, a descriptive study was done. We reviewed clinical records of outpatient and inpatients of the National Orthopedic Hospital (NOH) who sustained injuries because of fireworks from December 1, 1989 to January 6, 1990. Between December 22, 1989 and January 6, 1990 113 cases of firework injuries were seen at the NOH. One hundred eight (96%) were males. Seventy five (66%) were between 5 and 24 years. Seventy three (65%) of the cases were seen on January 1, 1990 between 12:00 midnight to 2:00 am. One hundred seven (95%) were self inflicted. Thirty four (30%) patients were hospitalized; none died. There were 178 injuries. Fifty four (48%) had multiple injuries. The hand was the body part most commonly affected. Amputation of fingers or wrists accounted 42 (24%) of the injuries; mostly in ages 5-14 years. Fractures accounted 24 (13%) of the injuries; mostly in ages 10-19 years. Avulsions accounted 23 (13%) of the injuries; mostly in ages 15-24 years. We concluded that the use of fireworks can cause debilitating injuries - - the more serious involved the age group 5-24 years. We thereby recommend that health education and preventive measures should be directed to these age group. Existing Philippine law absolutely prohibits the use of fireworks. However, this was hard to implement and illegal manufacturers make larger fireworks than when fireworks were legal. We recommend the selective legalization of small fireworks which may be more a practical way to prevent the severe injuries we documented.