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* BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The effectiveness of air bags as a safety device in decreasing fatalities and reducing morbidity in frontal impact motor vehicle accidents has been well established. However, case reports have surfaced documenting ocular injuries related to air bag inflation. The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze ocular injuries sustained during air bag inflation. * PATIENTS AND METHODS: Hospital emergency room records were reviewed retrospectively for a period of 4 years for patients who had sustained ocular injuries in motor vehicle accidents. Those injuries associated with air bag inflation were analyzed as to the nature of the injury, type of vehicle, speed, and visual morbidity. * RESULTS: Fourteen cases of ocular injury related to air bag inflation were identified. Hyphema (nine cases) and cornea abrasion (eight cases) were the most common. Three cases, all patients who had been wearing glasses, sustained serious and permanent ocular damage. * CONCLUSION: While air bags are an unequivocal safety feature, ocular injuries do occur that are related to air bag inflation. Eyeglass wear may present an additional risk factor. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers 1995;26:542-548.]

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this report is to detail three cases of serious ocular injury associated with eyeglass wear during airbag inflation following motor vehicle crashes. DESIGN: Although there were too few cases to provide valid statistics, an attempt was made to determine if there were characteristics common to the glasses or accidents that would provide preventive information. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The emergency room records were reviewed for a 4-year period and cases were extracted involving ocular injuries related to airbag inflation. Fourteen cases were found, and three patients were wearing glasses. These cases were studied in detail. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: All three patients sustained serious, vision-compromising ocular damage. CONCLUSIONS: Eyeglass wear presents an additional risk factor for ocular injury during airbag inflation. Frame damage and lens shatter provide potential for both blunt and penetrating types of ocular injury.

Nine 1972 silver-medalist oarsmen were studied before the Olympic Games and 10 and 20 yr later. Peak power, metabolic responses, and heart rate were recorded during rowing ergometry; blood lactate was measured following exercise. The skinfold equation yielded percent body fat. The average change (multiple analysis of variance) among measurements from 1972 to 1992 was 37.5 +/- 3% (P < 0.01). Average changes between 1972 and 1982 and between 1982 and 1992 were similar, 17 and 18%, respectively (P < 0.01). The most significant change between 1972 and 1992 was decreased peak blood lactate (106%). Decreases in peak power, VE, and VO2 (ml.kg-1.min-1) were all similar, approximately 40%, and were significant. Body fat increased (from 12.3 to 15.6%), and absolute VO2 and relative VO2 (lean body mass) decreased 30% (P < 0.01). Only body weight, heart rate, and O2 pulse showed smaller changes, but these changes were still significant (P < 0.05). Relative peak VO2 decreased from 65.5 to 46.8 ml.kg-1.min-1 from 1972 to 1992 and at a rate of 10%.decade-1. The most significant changes between 1972 and 1982 were increases in percent body fat (from 12.3 to 16.3%) and decreases in VO2 values (P < 0.01). There was less change in body fat between 1982 and 1992, but lactate significantly decreased (P < 0.01), as did peak power and absolute and relative VO2 and VE. Although fitness levels in former elite oarsmen decreased each decade, these declines were somewhat arrested by regular aerobic training. Body fat increased and metabolic capacity decreased rapidly during the first decade, whereas anaerobic capacity decreased more significantly in the second decade. Anaerobic capacity diminished at a significantly greater rate than aerobic capacity, probably as a result of the aging process and emphasis on aerobic training in post-competitive years.

Detachment of Descemet's membrane is a rare complication of cataract surgery that can cause permanent corneal decompensation. We report five patients with Descemet's membrane detachments who were successfully treated with intracameral injection of 20% sulfur hexafluoride gas with resultant resolution of their corneal edema.