Practical tips to reduce the risk of champagne cork-related eye injuries. Credit: BMJ (2023). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.p2520
Small team of ophthalmologists from the University of Cambridge, the Kellogg Eye Center at the University of Michigan, the University College Dublin School of Medicine and the Texas A&M College of Medicine warn of possible eye injuries while many bottles of champagne are opened during the festive period. In their project, reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the group reviewed the available literature describing eye injuries that can result from high-velocity traffic jams.
Anecdotal and medical evidence has shown that caps thrown into the air after being removed from pressurized cylinders can cause a variety of injuries, most of them minor. But they can also cause serious injury when they hit someone in the eye. The research team found that such collisions can lead to injuries such as anterior chamber hemorrhage, or hyphema, in which blood accumulates in the front chamber of the eye. Another possibility is traumatic retinopathy. Such injuries are serious and can sometimes lead to permanent loss of vision.
Researchers also found that blindness from severe cork impacts is more common than previously thought: Many people never fully recover from these injuries, and 26 percent of people treated for such injuries remain legally blind.
They cited one study in particular, conducted in 2009 in Italy, in which a research team found varying degrees of visual impairment and long-term complications from bottle caps, including ocular hypertension and corneal damage. This research team also discovered what they described as “late” complications that developed over time after injury, such as pupillary motility problems, post-traumatic glaucoma and traumatic optic neuropathy.
The research team also noted that the American Academy of Ophthalmology has an ongoing campaign called “Uncork with Care,” warning consumers about the dangers of uncorking and ways to open those bottles more safely. They note that the pressure inside a bottle of sparkling water can be up to three times that of a car tire, leading to traffic jam speeds of 80 km/h, a speed fast enough for a cork to travel from the bottle to the human eye. a person holding it in just 0.05 seconds, which is faster than a person can respond by closing their eyes.
More information:
Ethan Waisberg et al, Well done, no tears: champagne corks and eye injuries, BMJ (2023). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.p2520
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