Ocular trauma secondary to exercise resistance bands during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective To characterize injuries caused by exercise resistance bands. Method Single-site retrospective case series of patients presenting to the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute emergency room with ocular injuries secondary to exercise resistance bands from March through September 2020. Results Eleven patients (9 males, 2 females, 14 eyes) were reviewed. Eight patients had a unilateral injury (3 right eyes, 5 left eyes) while 3 had bilateral injuries. Iritis was the most common presentation, seen in all 11 patients, followed by hyphema (9 patients, 82%), and vitreous hemorrhage (4 patients, 36%). Among affected eyes, the mean presenting visual acuity was approximately 20/100, improving to 20/40 on the last follow up (p = 0.06). However, 4 eyes (33%) had vision ≤20/60 at last follow up. Conclusions Exercise resistance bands can cause a wide spectrum of ocular injuries, some leading to long-term vision loss. As such, we recommend that patients strongly consider using eye protection goggles or glasses while using resistance bands for exercise.
Highlights • Exercise resistance bands cause a wide spectrum of ocular trauma. • Iritis and hyphema were the most common presentation of resistance band injuries. • Some patients will not recover vision after resistance band injuries.