The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Deepavali brings its share of eye injuries

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 10, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Deepavali brings its share of eye injuries

Staff Reporter

Cases have come down though, say doctors

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

under treatment: Santhosh (right) and Tejraj at the Minto Ophthalmic Hospital in Bangalore on Friday.

Bangalore: Along with the festive cheer that accompanies Deepavali every year, incidents of cracker-related injuries take a little sparkle out of the festival of lights.

For four-year-old Santhosh, this Deepavali was not a very cheerful one – he injured both his eyes on Thursday when he lit the chemicals taken out from the remains of burnt and malfunctioning firecrackers, which exploded causing injury to his eyes.

He has been admitted at the Minto Ophthalmic Hospital, which received four cases of cracker-related injuries. All the injured are boys and are aged between five and 15. “He was bursting crackers with other children when the incident happened.

He had put all the crackers together and set fire to them,” his father said.

P. Tejraj, a 15-year-old who has also been admitted to Minto Hospital for injuries to his face and eyes, said he was leaning over a half-burnt “flower pot” when it went off in his face. “I had just lit the flower pot but it did not burn, so I tried to burn it again when it suddenly burst,” he said.

The other two cases are eye injuries caused by incense sticks.

According to K.S. Sriprakash, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, none of the cases received by them are of a serious nature and the patients would not suffer vision loss.

“Most of the burns are superficial and some children have suffered corneal burns. But because of prompt medical management, there does not seem to be any permanent damage. The children’s vision will be restored in two or three days and they won’t need any surgical intervention,” Dr. Sriprakash said.

He added that the cases of cracker-related injuries had come in the last couple of years.

“Last year we received six or seven cases,” he said.

Narayana Nethralaya has received 11 cases of cracker-related injuries this year while the Samprathi Eye Hospital and Squint Centre got two patients who hurt their eyes while burning firecrackers.

The Lions Eye Hospital received one case of cracker-related eye injury. But most of them are mild injuries like burns on the eyelid or corneal abrasions, which will not result in any permanent damage to the eyes, doctors said.

But the main problem every year is that of children burning crackers without adult supervision. “Many children light firecrackers unsupervised and they have a tendency to bend over the crackers or try to repeatedly light malfunctioning firecrackers, which may suddenly burst and cause injury,” said Arun Samprathi, consultant paediatric ophthalmologist.

Operated upon

Nine-year-old Appu from Bangalore South was operated upon by doctors at the Netradhama Eye Hospital here as he suffered a corneal tear.

Doctors had to conduct an emergency operation to restore his vision and the surgery has been successful.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka