The 3-Year Survey of Ocular Blast Injuries from Fire-cracker

Nimit Ittipankul M.D.,
Direk Patikulsila M.D.,
Pongsak Anucharee M.D.,
Apinya Lukruji M.D.
Maharaj Nakorn Chiangmai Hospital

ABSTRACT The firecracker during different festivals can cause serious damage to the eyes. To reflect such severity, we studied 22 patients (30 eyes) retrospectively who had ocular blast injuries from the firecracker during Loy Kratong Festival in Chiang Mai.

11 out of 30 eyes had ruptured globes including 2 eyes undergone primary enucleation. The treatment results showed that all non- ruptured cases had final visual acuity of 6/12 or better, while g out of 11 eyes (72.7%) of ruptured cases had final visual acuity of less than 1/60. We conclude that ocular blast injuries from firecracker can cause ruptured globes in one third of cases and more than 70% of ruptured cases will have the final visual acuity less than 1/60.