Intraocular pressures dramatically above normal physiological pressure were observed for high speed projectile impacts. These pressure data provide critical insight to chronic ocular injuries and long-term complications such as glaucoma and cataracts.

This is the first study to experimentally measure intraocular pressure from high speed water stream impacts and quantify the corresponding eye injury risk. It is recommended that toy water guns and water park fountains use an upper threshold of 8.5 m/s for water stream velocities to minimize the risk of serious acute eye damage from impacts.

In order to predict and possibly prevent ocular injuries for various impact scenarios, previous research investigated injuries from projectile impacts with known characteristics. Normalized energy was determined as the most significant predictor of injury type and tissue lesion. Although studies have reported the injury risk for projectile impacts to the globe, none have reported the corresponding intraocular pressure [1]. Quantifying intraocular pressure during impacts may provide insight to vision problems such as glaucoma and cataracts. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to determine intraocular pressure during high speed projectile impacts to eyes.