Bottle cork and cap injury to the eye: a review of 34 cases

From the Bottlecap to the Bottleneck: Frequent Esophageal Impaction of Bottlecaps Among Young Males in a Small University Town

There have been few reports of ingestion of bottlecaps worldwide. However, all of these seemed to be unlikely accidental ingestions with a comic side effect. In contrast to this, the authors of this study found an accumulation of bottlecap ingestions in a small university town. Hence, we conducted a study to investigate the nature of these ingestions. We conducted a retrospective cohort study in a tertiary referral center in a small German university town (Göttingen). All patients that were admitted for esophageal foreign bodies were screened for accidental ingestion of bottlecaps and included in the study at hand. Overall, there were 14 cases of bottlecap ingestion within 12 years. Patients were exclusively male, average age was 23.0 ± 4.2 years, ranging from 18.3 to 35.6 years. In 13 out of 14 cases, association to a fraternity was found. Young men, particularly those belonging to a fraternity, should be beware of bottlecap ingestion when consuming beer in risky rituals in small university towns. Alternatively, competitive beer drinking may generally be avoided.

Work-Related Eye Injuries: A Relevant Health Problem. Main Epidemiological Data from a Highly-Industrialized Area of Northern Italy

The province of Modena is one of the most industrialized areas of Northern Italy. The medical records of the Ophthalmological Emergency Department (OED) of Modena University Hospital were studied: there were 13,470 OED accesses in 2014 and in 754 cases that an occupational eye injury occurred. The frequency of work-related eye injuries (3‰) was lower compared to other published studies, but the absolute number is still relevant, showing the need for more adequate prevention, especially in metal work, construction work, and agriculture, where the worst prognoses were observed. Intervention programs must be implemented as early as possible in the working life, considering that the frequency in younger workers is about double that of the oldest age class (3.5‰ vs. 1.8‰), and special attention should also be given to foreigners, who have a 50% higher injury risk. Furthermore, the planning of specific interventions for eye-injured workers may be useful, considering that a previous injury does not appear to encourage the adoption of preventive interventions, and a subgroup of eye-injured workers have a potential risk for new injuries. Finally, the data presented here indicates how OED records, integrated with specific occupational information, can be applied for studies on work-related eye injuries.

Ocular injuries from pressurised bottled drinks in China

BACKGROUND

The objective of this study is to provide a systematic review on ocular injuries induced by glass bottles containing carbonated drinks in China, which emphasised the injury circumstance and visual function loss.

METHODS

We performed a literature-based retrospective analysis using predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Demographic characteristics of pressurised bottled drinks-related eye injuries were obtained and vision loss was calculated.

RESULTS

A total of 26 relevant articles were found suitable for investigation of causative agent and patient demographics, of which 19 articles could be used for calculating vision loss and injury circumstance. Victims were often pertinent workers (46.0%). Most of the trauma was serious and even devastating. Final visual acuity was >10/20 in 29.2%, with severe final vision loss (<10/200) in 30.8%. Visual acuity can improve significantly with treatment (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

One in three ocular injuries from glass bottles containing carbonated drinks show severe vision loss. Relevant workers are most frequently injured, followed by inappropriate handlers or openers. Besides manufacturing standards being strictly implemented, many ocular traumas related to bottled carbonated drinks should be prevented through health education.