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Air Bags May Cause Serious Eye Injuries in Children, Study in Ophthalmology Concludes

1 August 2000

Air Bags May Cause Serious Eye Injuries in Children, Study in Ophthalmology Concludes

    SAN FRANCISCO - A study published in the August 2000 issue of Ophthalmology, 
the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, concludes that serious eye 
injuries in children may result from automotive air bag deployment, and that 
infants and children should travel in the rear seat of automobiles to minimize 
their risk of injury.

    In this study, Eye M.D. (ophthalmologist) Gregg T. Lueder, MD, reviewed
medical records of seven children injured by air bags, and concludes that
serious ocular injuries in children may result, though most resolve without
detrimental long-term consequences.  However, Dr. Lueder explains that serious
injury may result if the child is too near the air bag when it deploys.  "In
infants," he says, "the increased mortality risk results from the use of
rear-facing infant car seats in the front passenger seat.  This places the
infant's head too near the deploying air bag.  In older children who are
unbelted or who use lap-only seat belts, the head may move forward during
impact, resulting in head and neck injuries."

    The most serious consequences of these injuries were cataracts and
glaucoma.  Other injuries were:  blood in the front chamber of the eye; alkali
burn; temporary loss of consciousness and visual acuity; eyelid laceration;
black eye; swelling and hemorrhage of blood vessels under the outer surface of
the eyeball; corneal lesions and abrasions; and inflammation of the iris.