How to Prevent Eye Injuries from Air Bags and Motorcycle Accidents

Ophthalmologists have found that permanent eye injuries frequently result from air bag deployment if a passenger is not wearing a seatbelt or when a motorcyclist is not wearing a helmet. Several studies on this issue, conducted by researchers at Rhode Island Hospital, were presented at the 9th Annual Research Forum for Ophthalmologists in early June.

“On average, approximately five patients have preventable blinding eye injuries each week in Rhode Island. This is five too many,” says Kent Anderson, MD, PhD, an ophthalmologist at Rhode Island Hospital and a clinical assistant professor of surgery (ophthalmology) at Brown Medical School.

In a recent study at Rhode Island Hospital, 71 percent of patients who were in a motor vehicle accident and did not wear a seat belt suffered severe eye injuries, according to Sunil Rao, MD, a first-year ophthalmology resident at Rhode Island Hospital, who conducted the study. A total of 47 patients who were brought to the hospital were included in the study.

 “Some people think if you have an air bag, you don’t need to wear a seat belt,” Rao says. “In fact, there are a number of reasons to wear seat belts, and one of them is that you’re less likely to have blinding injuries from an air bag.”

Previous studies have shown that air bags can cause eye injury but the research did not look at long-term outcomes. This study followed patients six months after an accident and found that 14 percent were blind in at least one eye. The rest, while not blinded, had a permanent eye injury.

In another study, of 31 patients in motorcycle accidents, 23 had eye injuries, including four patients who were legally blind in one eye. The majority of patients had been riding a motorcycle without a helmet.

“We did this study because we were seeing so many motorcycle accident patients in the emergency room and in the clinic for follow-up appointments—especially in the summer months. Most of the patients we saw were not wearing helmets,” says Nickolas Katsoulakis, MD, a first-year resident in ophthalmology at Rhode Island Hospital.

“Even though Rhode Island doesn’t have specific laws requiring drivers to wear helmets, we still advocate wearing a helmet to prevent eye injury,” says Katsoulakis.