Ocular Trauma Caused by Confetti Cannons

Background: Eye trauma is an unfortunate and often preventable cause of vision loss. Confetti cannons are common causes of injury. Awareness of ocular hazards of confetti cannons mains low because of limited reports describing ophthalmic injuries following their use. Objectives: To describe outcomes of ocular trauma caused by confetti cannons and to increase recognition of their ocular irks. Methods: A retrospective analysts was conducted of eye injuries caused by confetti cannons presenting to a single medical center between 2016 and 2020. Data collected included age, gender, eye injured, ocular damage, visual outcome, and de tails of surgeries performed. Results: Overall, six consecutive patients males, mean age 9.5 +/- 9.74 years) were identified and studied. In all patients only one eye was injured (3 right eyes) during a private celebration, most commonly (n=5) to a bystander while in the vicinity of a cannon operated by someone else. Most common eye injuries included corneal erosion (n=4), traumatic hyphema (n=4), and retinal edema (n=3). Mean initial logMAR visual acuity in the injured eye was 0.73 +/- 0.18, improving to 0.25 +/- 0.16 at the final visit (P=0.125). Two patients underwent eye surgery due to their trauma: one to repair globe penetration and another to undergo intravitreal injection of tissue plasminogen activator and C3F8 for submacular hemorrhage, followed months later by intravitreal bevacizumab injection for choroidal neovascularization. Conclusions: Confetti cannons pose hazards that can cause severe ocular trauma resulting in permanent vision loss. Increasing awareness of device hazards is necessary to prevent eye injuries.