If you and I meet on New Year’s Eve…

If you and I meet for the first time on New Year’s Eve, chances are that you’ll soon be asleep. I’ll be wearing gloves, peering through an operating microscope, carefully passing sterile needle and thread through your ruptured eye. Nearly every year, around the holidays, I am in the operating room, sewing together someone’s eye that has been blown to bits by fireworks.

Fireworks are a leading cause of injuries during the holidays, and eye injuries account for around one out of five firework-related injuries. Unfortunately, because of the devastation of the explosion, blindness or loss of the eye usually results from a fireworks injury. Most of the time, it is a bystander that is injured.

In reality, there is no truly safe way for non-professionals to use fireworks. Many states ban fireworks, or at least the most dangerous kind: bottle-rockets. In Australia there is an almost complete ban on the sale of fireworks, without much detriment to the “fun” people experience in celebrating the holidays. The American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association all advocate banning the sale of fireworks, because of the dangers posed by them.

Prevent Blindness America reports that:

– Sparklers, firecrackers, bottle rockets and roman candles each contribute to 17 percent of eye injuries.

– Almost half of the injuries are to children under age 15.

– Sparklers can heat up to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit—hot enough to melt gold.

Data from the United States Eye Injury Registry shows that bystanders are more often injured by fireworks than operators themselves.

If an accident does occur, what can you do right away to minimize the damage to the eye? Prevent Blindness America give these tips that can help save your or your child’s sight.

– Do not rub the eye. Rubbing the eye may increase bleeding or make the injury worse.

– Do not attempt to rinse out the eye. This can be even more damaging than rubbing.

– Do not apply pressure to the eye itself. Protecting the eye from further contact with any item, including the child’s hand, is the goal.

– Do not stop for medicine! Over-the-counter pain relievers will not do much to relieve pain. Go to the emergency room at once. This is more important than stopping for a pain reliever.

– Do not apply ointment or any drops. Ointment, which may not be sterile, makes the area around the eye slippery and harder for the doctor to examine.

– Do not let your child play with fireworks, even if his/her friends are setting them off. Sparklers burn at 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, and bottle rockets can stray off course or throw shrapnel when they explode.

Before you buy fireworks this year, it is worth thinking about these risks. At the very least, do not buy bottle rockets, or other “shooting” types of fireworks, and ensure that anyone around the fireworks is wearing some kind of eye protection. Best of all, consider leaving the fireworks out of your celebration all together.

I wish you a happy and safe New Year’s celebration. Hopefully, you and I will not ring in the New Year together in the operating room.

David Khorram, MD is a board certified ophthalmologist, and director of Marianas Eye Institute. Questions and comments are welcome. Call 235-9090 or email eye@vzpacifica.net. Copyright © 2005 David Khorram.