Trauma: May 2008 Archives

I'm so out of it. I had no idea that popping water-bottle caps was the current rage among kids. This video demonstrates the practice and shows the tremendous force that can be generated from the flying cap. I'm sure it's always good, clean backyard fun, until somebody gets hurt—which is what happened to a 14-year-old girl whose right eye was hit by such a projectile cap, according to correspondence in this week's NEJM. The girl's injury ultimately required intervention in the form of maximal glaucoma therapy, because of increasing intraocular pressure, and anterior-chamber washout.

Photo, from NEJM, showing blood clot in anterior chamber (white arrow) and hyphema (black arrow) on day 4 after injury.