Kaskel S., Höh H.

Augenklinik, Klinikum Neubrandenburg

Background: Bottles containing carbonated drinks may explode spontaneously due to elevation in internal pressure and so cause serious eye injury. This is mostly unknown in the general population.
Patients: From February, 1996, to October, 2000, three patients were hospitalized after suffering penetrating eye injuries from spontaneously exploding bottles. Two of them were children aged around three years and one was a 47 year old man. The small children suffered the injury when a bottle they were holding suddenly exploded. The 47 year old was just taking a bottle from a shopping cart when the bottle exploded. The injuries occurred in October, Ferbruary, and July, respectively.
Results: One child suffered a severe penetrating injury of cornea, sclera and both lids of one eye. Vision was hand movements in the injured left eye after primary wound closure and two vitrectomies. The other child achieved 20/50 vision after closure of a scleral laceration with vitreous prolapse in the right eye. The grown-up suffered a central corneal laceration; postoperative vision was 20/250.
Conclusions: Grown-ups and especially children may suffer severe ocular injuries from spontaneously exploding bottles of carbonated drink. Children are possibly at a higher risk due to the short distance between hand and eye. With the Neubrandenburg eye clinic covering an area of about 200.000 inhabitants for emergency eye surgery, one should expect about 244 serious eye injuries in Germany caused by this kind of accident every year. Ophthalmologists have asked for decades that carbonated drinks be sold in explosion-proof bottles.

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