Airsoft pellet guns can cause serious eye injuries in children

Ocular injuries from air pellet guns occur mainly in children and often require acute medical attention, a study by researchers in Denmark found.

Jon Peiter Saunte, MD, and colleagues at the University of Copenhagen reviewed the 5-year incidence and ocular effects of blunt trauma caused by airsoft gun pellets. Airsoft is a sport similar in concept to paintball, in which airsoft guns are used to fire plastic pellets of 6 mm or 8 mm diameter.

"Eye care professionals and parents as well as manufacturers of airsoft guns should advise participants to wear adequate protection when involved in this activity," Dr. Saunte and colleagues said.

The study included 33 eyes of 33 patients treated for airsoft pellet gun injuries at the university's emergency eye clinic between 1998 and 2002. The mean age of the patients at the time of injury was 13 years.

Twenty-eight eyes had hyphema, 22 had corneal abrasions, 11 had retinal edema, 10 had subconjunctival hemorrhage, nine had palpebral hemorrhage and/or edema, seven had iris dialysis, four had IOP greater than 31 mm Hg, four had IOP less than 9 mm Hg, two had vitreous hemorrhage and one had cataract. One patient required surgery due to brown corneal discoloration resulting from severe chronic hyphema, according to the study authors.

Final visual acuity was 1 for 20 patients and 0.7 or worse in five patients.

The study is published in the December issue of Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica.