Ocular injury in hurling

Abstract

Objectives:To describe the clinical characteristics of ocular injuries sustained in hurling in the south of Ireland and to investigate reasons for non-use of protective headgear and eye wear.Methods:Retrospective review of the case notes of 310 patients who attended Cork University Hospital or Waterford Regional Hospital between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 2002 with ocular injuries sustained during a hurling match. A confidential questionnaire on reasons for non-use of protective headgear and eye wear was completed by 130 players.Results:Hurling related eye injuries occurred most commonly in young men. Fifty two patients (17%) required hospital admission, with hyphaema accounting for 71% of admissions. Ten injuries required intraocular surgical intervention: retinal detachment repair (5); macular hole surgery (1); repair of partial thickness corneal laceration (1); repair of globe perforation (1); enucleation (1); trabeculectomy for post-traumatic glaucoma (1). Fourteen eyes (4.5%) had a final best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of <6/12 and six (2%) had BCVA <3/60. In the survey, 63 players (48.5%) reported wearing no protective facemask while playing hurling. Impairment of vision was the most common reason cited for non-use.Conclusions:Hurling related injury is a significant, and preventable, cause of ocular morbidity in young men in Ireland. The routine use of appropriate protective headgear and faceguards would result in a dramatic reduction in the incidence and severity of these injuries, and should be mandatory.

Injury in elite county-level hurling: a prospective study

“…The potential for injury is considered high enough for the Gaelic Athletic Association to extend the mandatory wearing of helmets with face guards to all player grades from January 2010 3. Several investigators have documented injury in hurling, with retrospective research carried out in a hospital setting 5–9. These focused on specific injuries such as the head and face,5 occular,9 hand7 and ankle 10.…”

“…Several investigators have documented injury in hurling, with retrospective research carried out in a hospital setting 5–9. These focused on specific injuries such as the head and face,5 occular,9 hand7 and ankle 10. To date, there has been only one prospective study of injury incidence in hurling dating back to 1996 11.…”

Eye safety in hurling: a few remaining blind spots?

“…The introduction of compulsory faceguards has led to the almost complete eradication of serious sight-threatening eye injuries from the Irish field game of hurling [1,10,12,13]. However, based on the findings herein, there are still a small but significant amount of serious or potentially serious eye injuries occurring (Table 1).…”

“…He presented 2 weeks following the injury as his symptoms had failed to settle completely. He & D. Kent dkent@liv.ac.uk 1 The Vision Clinic, 7 Circular Road, Kilkenny, Ireland had a past ophthalmic history of bilateral laser refractive surgery for myopia which had been performed 11 years previously. Unaided visual acuity was 6/12 in the right eye and 6/7.5 in the left eye.…”

“…Both the force used by the players in swinging their hurls and the velocities attained by the ball when struck make players extremely vulnerable to potentially serious head and facial injury. Prior to the compulsory introduction of helmets and faceguards, injuries to the head and face were endemic in the game [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. To this end, recent years have seen the almost complete eradication of these types of injuries, no more so than in the highly emotive area of ocular injury where even minor trauma can have devastating consequences for vision [10][11][12].…”