TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2022//
TI  - Shifting trends in demographic features of chemical eye injuries during COVID-19 pandemic
JO  - International ophthalmology
A1  - Akbas, Elif
A1  - Korkmaz, Ilayda
A1  - Palamar, Melis
A1  - Barut Selver, Ozlem
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the etiological cause distribution in chemical eye injuries during COVID-19 pandemic. <br><br>METHODS: In this retrospective case series, the medical records of patients, who presented with chemical eye injuries between March 30, 2020, and March 1, 2021, were evaluated and compared with the data covering 10 years before the pandemic. <br><br>RESULTS: Twenty-seven eyes of twenty-three patients (19 adults, 4 children) who presented in pandemic period were included. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer was one of the two most common agents (n = 6 eyes) in the pandemic era. In the last 10 years before the pandemic, 137 eyes of 102 patients were treated for chemical eye injuries. Injuries due to alcohol-based hand sanitizer increased from 3.1 to 21.1% among all patients, and from 0 to 75% among pediatric patients during the pandemic era compared to the pre-pandemic period. The increase was statistically significant both in all patients (p = .003) and in the pediatric patient group (p = .048). <br><br>CONCLUSION: Due to COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol-based hand sanitizer use became more common. Consequently, the frequency of hand sanitizer related chemical injuries showed a 13-fold increase and the age group affected by such accidents is altered during the pandemic. Three out of four pediatric patients (75%) were injured with alcohol-based hand sanitizers, which draws attention to the fact that improperly placed hand sanitizer stations, being just at the eye level of children, can cause chemical eye injuries in the pediatric population even more.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0165-5701
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10792-022-02211-x
ID  - ref1
ER  -