A Kaohsiung doctor on Dec. 13 urged the public to wear safety goggles when using pressurized water guns and air guns to wash and dry vehicles, after treating the injuries of a 16-year-old girl.
The girl had been drying the mirror of her scooter with an air gun when the mirror shattered and splinters injured her eyes, said Wu Pei-chang (吳佩昌), an ophthalmologist at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.
“She was rushed to hospital with a ruptured left eye and was bleeding,” Wu said.
After performing surgery and follow-up treatment, Wu was able to restore the girl’s visual acuity from 0.1 on the decimal chart (severe vision loss) to 0.4 (mild vision loss), he said.
“When she arrived, we were worried that there might be pieces of glass left in her eye, which could have led to an infection and vision loss,” Wu said.
Wu performed a computerized tomography scan, which showed that there were no glass fragments in the girl’s eye, he said, adding that there was also no damage to the cornea.
Had the scan showed debris in the girl’s eye, he would have had to perform cataract surgery or a virectomy, which would have complicated her recovery, he said.
While her condition is now stable, she would have to undergo regular checkups for a year, as the retina could still separate during recovery, Wu said.
While her forward vision is largely unimpeded, her peripheral vision would take time to recover, he added.
“If something pierces the eye, avoid touching the affected area and do not apply pressure to stop the bleeding,” Wu said, adding that if pressure is applied to an injured eye, it could cause further damage.
It is also not advisable to attempt to remove foreign objects from the eyes, as doing so could damage the eye’s structure, he said.
If people sustain an eye injury, they should immediately put on protective eye coverings to prevent further injury and seek medical attention, Wu said.
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