Not Harmless Toys: Paintball Guns Are More Dangerous Than Previously Thought



Twelve of the 20 patients with eye injuries that the study looked at required surgery.

Paintball guns are more likely to result in severe eye damage than previously believed, according to a recent study.

After analyzing data on paintball gun attacks over a two-year period, researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine found that more patients than expected experienced vision-threatening emergencies after being hit in the eye, with some suffering an eyeball rupture or even going permanently blind.

According to senior author Shivam Amin, MD, a second-year resident in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at the University of Chicago Medicine, "Many of these patients had disastrous consequences, such as irreparable vision loss." "Paintball guns may be seen by some as innocuous toys, but when used without adult supervision, they may be quite dangerous, especially when used as assault weapons and targeted at the head."

The study, which was just released in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, is the first to assess patients for eye injuries caused by paintball guns being intentionally used as attack weapons. The goal of the study was to find out more about paintball weapons' potential for harm in uncontrolled settings.

The researchers looked at 20 patients who had eye injuries from paintball gun attacks over a two-year period, from January 2020 to December 2021. Chicago had experienced a rise in paintball gun assaults at the time.

Senior author Hassan Shah, MD, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and oculoplastic surgeon at UChicago Medicine, stated, "In fact, we had eight injuries on one weekend." The number of extremely serious injuries when the eye actually burst open was exceptionally high.

For twelve patients, surgery was required. A ruptured globe, which happens when the eyeball tears apart and needs immediate surgery to sew it back together, affected six patients.

Three of those individuals ultimately required eviscerations, in which the silicone inside of the eye is replaced by medical professionals. The majority of burst globes (30%) were documented in research conducted to date that had at least five individuals.

This is a considerable increase over the 7% rate that the team discovered by merging numerous other study groups that did not focus on paintball gun assaults.

"Some of these patients underwent many surgeries, came to our clinic on multiple occasions, and underwent a considerable physical, mental, and emotional toll due to the loss of their vision," added Amin.

Five patients had one eye lost to blindness.

Paintball guns, as opposed to traditional firearms, discharge a gelatin capsule filled with paint using compressed gas instead of gun powder. Depending on the gun being used, paintballs can move up to 300 feet per second and have a maximum range of about 120 feet. Guns can be manually or electrically driven.

Paintballs' force is completely released over a limited surface area upon contact since they are little, somewhat heavy (3.5 grams), and do not leave an exit wound.

Reference: "Ocular Injuries From Drive-by Paintball Shootings," published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology on May 17, 2022, by Shivam V. Amin, Valerie E. Otti, Asim V. Farooq, and Hassan A. Shah.

By UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICAL CENTER 

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