As a mom of sons who enjoy the sport of airsoft gun wars with the use of pellets, I wanted to share with you a study done concerning eye injuries. This report/study was conducted by our friends who are ophthalmologist that specialize in retina surgery. I will endeavor to paraphrase so that we laypeople might great understand their findings. Essentially the emphasis is on consistent use of protective equipment, especially goggles or full facemasks.
Since the early 80's, airsoft guns have been used for:
BMX Equipment
-military training situations
-airsoft gun competition
-training of law obligation and protection
-recreational airsoft gun shooting, ordinarily in simulated war games.
Airsoft Gun Eye safety equipment and Why You Should Use It
Many entrepreneurs initially purchased equipment and leased land to promote these war games. Each person is equipped with carbon dioxide-powered gun and protective eyewear. As airsoft guns and pellets have come to be easier to obtain, the use of these risky weapons at home has come to be more popular.
Each player at a war game facility is required to wear eye protection consisting of goggles or full facial headgear. Sometimes the goggles may be knocked off during play or may come to be foggy or dirty and be removed temporarily for cleaning. Although such facilities require eye protection, no such requirements exist at other sites, like at home.
Many eye injuries have been reported since 1985 concerning the pellet injuries. Most of these reports indicate that failure to wear eye protection resulted in injury, though some injuries occurred despite proper use of eye protection.
Results: Eye injury in 10 patients, 7 of the ten did not have eye protection at the time of injury, 2 patients had goggles in position (the pellet entered under the goggles), and 1 inpatient wore a full-face helmet. Only one inpatient was playing at an airsoft game facility, and the other 9 were playing recreationally at home or a friend's home.
Six patients had surgery. At the one year follow up of these patients: all who had surgery for the airsoft pellet injury had improvement in final visual acuity compared to their initial visual acuity assessment. The 4 patients who did not have surgery had the best initial visual acuity, but did not however, have the best final visual acuity.
Conclusion: Blunt trauma to the eye caused by these pellets can follow in severe ocular injury and permanent loss of vision. Emphasis by manufacturers on eye protection measures and mandatory packaging of eye protection with all airsoft-related items might be helpful to social protection education in reducing visual injury from these airsoft war games. Therefore, take precautions during play and when you buy airsoft guns, please buy eye protection and Use It during play. Your eye site would be a terrible thing to loose.
Factual basis of this report is from a study done by branch of Ophthalmology and Vitreoretinal Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Medicine.
Airsoft Gun Eye safety equipment and Why You Should Use It
