Abstract

Firework related ocular injuries are an important cause of preventable ocular injuries and are common during festival season. Fireworks are an integral aspect of national, cultural and religious festivals globally, featuring in a vast range of celebrations in India and abroad. We have observed a trend in eye injuries related to the use of fireworks, a large proportion of which are children whose numbers remain stable. This is a hospital based observational study of all patients with firework related injuries who attended the emergency and the outpatient department of Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Kolkata during or within one month of the festival season(Diwali and New year) were included in the study. The evaluation was done based on demographic distribution, mode, causative factors, type of firework related ocular injuries and visual outcome at a tertiary care eye centre in West-bengal.