TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2003//
TI  - Elastic cord-induced ocular injuries
JO  - Injury
A1  - Brouzas, D.
A1  - Charakidas, A.
A1  - Papagiannakopoulos, D.
A1  - Koukoulomatis, P.
SP  - 323
EP  - 326
VL  - 34
IS  - 5
N2  - PURPOSE: To evaluate the incidence and severity of ocular injuries caused by elastic cords. PATIENTS AND METHOD: A retrospective review of patients' records from the Emergency Department was conducted to identify cases of elastic cord-induced ocular injuries. Over a 67-month period starting in October 1996, 28 patients (24 males and 4 females, mean age 38.6 years) with elastic cord-associated ocular trauma were identified. Patient demographics, mechanism of injury, presenting and final visual acuity, ocular injuries, medical and surgical intervention and length of follow-up were noted. RESULTS: The most common anterior and posterior segment injuries were hyphaema/microhyphaema (71.4%) and commotio retinae (60.7%), respectively. The most severe injuries sustained were corneal or scleral lacerations (7.1%), formation of retinal tears (10.7%) or retinal detachment (3.6%), lens subluxation (7.1%) and traumatic cataract (7.1%). Eight patients (28.6%) were admitted for surgical or medical treatment. Mean visual acuity was 20/40 on presentation and 20/25 at the end of the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Elastic cords may cause a wide range of ocular traumas of varying severity. Appropriate design modifications that would prevent the spontaneous release of their hooks are likely to make their use significantly safer.
LA  - 
SN  - 0020-1383
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -