Doctors see increase in sports injuries to the eye
Local hospitals are reporting an increase of patients suffering from sports injuries, especially those to the eye.
Doctors said such eye injuries are likely to cause complications later, and can even result in traumatic cataract.
Shanghai Xinshijie Eye Hospital said it just received a woman who suffered an eye injury while playing tennis. Her face was hit by her partner’s racket and her glasses were broken, causing a 6mm laceration and an injured cornea.
Doctors conducted surgery immediately, removing a small shard of glass from the wound.
“Such injuries are likely to influence vision,” said Dr Lian Jingcai, president of Shanghai Xinshijie Eye Hospital, with the location of lacerations sometimes experiencing complications like astigmatism and photophobia. "Such problems are very difficult to treat and seriously damage the vision.”
Lian said eyes are the most elegant and fragile organ and people must do their best to protect them during sports. One way is to swap ordinary glasses for sports glasses.
“If suffering an eye injury during sports, it is important to stop at once and go to the hospital immediately while covering the wound with a clean gauge. It is extremely damaging to massage the wound by hand or use medicine without consulting a doctor,” he added.