Yonekawa Yoshihiro, Miller John B, Turalba Angela V, Eliott Dean
Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2013 May-Jun;44(3):303-5. doi: 10.3928/23258160-20130503-20.
We report a new mechanism of ocular trauma. A basketball was intentionally overinflated until it exploded, resulting in corneal edema, hyphema, iritis, vitreous hemorrhage, commotio retinae, and a macular hole. The macular hole did not close after observation and subsequent pars plana vitrectomy with posterior hyaloid removal, but a repeat vitrectomy with internal limiting membrane peeling resulted in hole closure. Basketball overinflation to the point of explosion is a potentially blinding practice of which the public and manufacturers should be made aware.
