Careless badminton players at risk of permanent eye damage
Badminton is a common sport in Asia, but has recently been tied to increasing consequences – the inexpensive outdoor activity is a leading cause of sports-related eye injuries in Southeast Asia and accounts for two-thirds of sports-related eye injuries in Malaysia.
According to Dr. Yi Liu of Capital Medical University, Beijing, who studied the medical records of 85 patients with badminton-related eye injuries at Beijing Tongren Hospital, half the players were unaware of the dangers of the game.
While badminton is a less aggressive exercise, most of the Chinese cases reported hits by the shuttlecock, while the others were hit by the racquet – about 85% of the injuries occurred in doubles matches, and 60% were often caused by a player turning around and unintentionally being hit by their partner.
Of these, there were 80 non-penetrating and five penetrating injuries, including three resulting from shattered eyeglasses. The injuries produced painful hyphema – pooling of blood in the front of the eye, – secondary glaucoma, lens displacement and retinal detachment.Surgery was required for a third of cases and the five penetrating injuries led to irreversible vision impairment, with the worst case resulting in blindness.
Many sports, including badminton, pose ocular dangers: after observing the results, Dr. Micah Luong of Cloud break Eye Care, Canada, has said that something as simple as wearing safety glasses can prevent permanent blindness.
Dr. Simon Skalicky of the Eye Surgery Associates, Australia, has echoed the statement by recommending the use of wraparound, protective plastic safety glasses over regular spectacles, or goggles. Skalicky has also said that experts in Australia are encouraging badminton players with past injuries to be checked for late-glaucoma.
Category: Health alert
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