Severe pediatric ocular injury due to explosion of a firecracker inside a soda bottle

• Main Author: Tarek A Shazly
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2010-10-01
• Series: Open Access Emergency Medicine
• Online Access: http://www.dovepress.com/severe-pediatric-ocular-injury-due-to-explosion-of-a-firecracker-insid-a5572

Tarek A ShazlyDepartment of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USAAbstract: This case report describes a penetrating ocular injury, followed by endophthalmitis, in a four-year-old girl, resulting from explosion of a small K0201 match-cracker inside a soda bottle. The patient presented with two corneal lacerations, ruptured crystalline lens, multiple intraocular foreign bodies, and hyphema of the right eye, for which immediate surgical exploration and repair was performed. The patient developed aggressive endophthalmitis that led to atrophy of the eye within a few weeks. Severe ocular injuries can result from small, relatively “safe” firecrackers. Therefore, this type of firework should not be used, especially by minors.Keywords: pediatric trauma, endophthalmitis, firecracker