Lipika Panda1, Arun Kumar Samal2, Lisa Sarangi3
BACKGROUND
Artificial snow spray induced ocular injuries have become common in the past two
decades throughout India. There is a paucity of studies in India as well as globally
on such injuries. This study was undertaken to identify such types of ocular injuries
and evaluate the awareness of artificial snow spray use in the present hospital
settings.
METHODS
This hospital based longitudinal study was carried out among 68 patients having
artificial snow spray induced ocular injuries. The study period was from 01. 01.
2019 to 30. 12. 2019. A detailed history of patients was taken pertaining to the
injury. A thorough ocular examination was carried out on a slit lamp
biomicroscope. Visual acuity was recorded using Snellen’s test type chart. Clinical
grading was done by Roper Hall classification.
RESULTS
The present study included 68 patients i.e. 124 eyes of which 64.7 % (44) were
males, 35.3 % (24) were females. The mean age was 26.029 years. All the patients
suffered from chemical conjunctivitis (100 %), superficial punctate keratitis (SPK)
82.3 %, corneal erosion (8.8 %), and corneal erosion involving limbal area (3.2
%). Most ocular injuries due to artificial foam were bilateral (82.3 %). Maximum
number of patients (94.4 %) had grade I ocular injuries. 93.5 % of patients had
BCVA (best corrected visual acuity) 6 / 6 within 1 week of ocular injuries. So far,
no patients had any irreversible ophthalmic sequelae. Awareness among the study
group was very less.
CONCLUSIONS
Artificial snow spray used in parties, festival celebration can cause mild to severe
ocular injuries. Public awareness will reduce the use of this chemical.
