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‘Airbag project’ hopes to minimize airbag-related trauma
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ROME — The “Airbag Project,” a new initiative among international ocular trauma specialists, aims at reducing risk and preventing and limiting damage to the eye caused by airbag deployment.
“Airbags save lives and are also effective in protecting eyes from windscreen glass splinters, but safety still needs to be implemented,” said Cesare Forlini, MD, at the International Society of Ocular Trauma meeting.
By exploding, the airbag can cause violent blunt ocular trauma. If the driver or passengers wear spectacles, fragments of the broken lenses can also cause penetrating injuries. Rings can cause similar problems, Dr. Forlini said. Lifting the hands to cover the face is the most instinctive reaction of self-protection in automobile accidents, he said.
The Airbag Project is collecting data from ocular trauma specialists worldwide to include in a database of airbag-related trauma incidents.
“We are doing this first collection of data by a questionnaire that aims to investigate the nature of the injuries, but also aims to collect information on the dynamics of the accidents that caused airbag-related injuries, the type of car and any other detail that can be useful to understand how we can help minimize the occurrence of trauma,” Dr. Forlini pointed out.
He said the information gleaned from the project will be publicized to ophthalmologists and other health care operators, and will also be used in information campaigns for the general public.
Ferenc Kuhn, MD, who also spoke on the subject, said, “We don’t want to make people scared of airbags, but rather convince them of the importance of keeping a correct position in the car and of always using safety belts, because only under these conditions can airbags save life and save vision.”
Dr. Forlini added that spectacle wearers should use polycarbonate glasses in the car.
“We also want to involve eyewear manufacturers and optometrists, so that they can implement the production, prescription and use of high impact resistance eyewear. Car manufacturers could be encouraged to develop safer airbags, with perhaps a soft lattice cushion at face level,” he said.