Sight & Hearing

June/July 2002

Leave pyrotechnics to the pros

Play it safe this Fourth of July; leave pyrotechnics to pros

Jody Eder-Zdechlik remembers the Fourth of July when she was 2. In fact, every day this resident of Lakeland, Minn., is reminded of it. It was on that fateful holiday that a bottle rocket shot into her eye and blinded her.

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Jody said. "Just an innocent bystander, but in the direct path of the bottle rocket."

She was celebrating the Independence Day holiday at a family gathering. Like many Fourth of July parties, relatives were shooting off fireworks. Someone put a bottle rocket in a pop bottle and tipped the bottle; the rocket shot directly into her eye. Four surgeries couldn't save her vision. Today, she has a prosthetic right eye and wears polycarbonate glasses to protect her other eye.

Jody, now 38, represents one of thousands of Americans injured by fireworks each year. And, like Jody, not all victims happen to be the person setting them off. In fact, 40 percent of fireworks injuries are to innocent bystanders. Bottle rockets, which can move as fast as 200 mph, account for nearly 75 percent of injuries.

Since 1941, fireworks have been illegal in Minnesota. That changed this spring, when the Legislature passed a bill legalizing the sale and use of sparklers, glow worms and other nonexplosive, nonaerial fireworks. The bill's sponsors had hoped to legalize a complete range of consumer fireworks, including firecrackers and bottle rockets. But opposition, especially in the Senate, forced them to scale back. Supporters plan on returning in future legislative sessions to try and legalize more fireworks.

"Many people think playing with fireworks is fun," said Robert Mittra, M.D., an ophthalmologist with VitreoRetinal Surgery and medical director of the Minnesota Eye Injury Registry. "But what they don't realize is just how dangerous fireworks truly are."

Jody agrees.

"I still avoid fireworks. I don't even go to the big fireworks displays that the city puts on," Jody said. "You often hear people say they thought it could never happen to them. Well, freak accidents do happen. I'm proof of that."

Fireworks facts

Approximately 8,500 Americans are treated in emergency rooms each year for fireworks-related injuries. Of these, it is estimated that 20 percent are eye injuries.

As many as 400 Americans lose vision in one or both eyes each year because of eye injuries caused by fireworks.

Children, 16 years and younger, account for 60 percent of fireworks eye injuries in the United States.

80 percent of fireworks injuries occur around the Fourth of July holiday, between June 29 and July 5.

More than 40 percent of injuries happen to bystanders.

By far, the most dangerous type of firework is the bottle rocket. The bottle rocket flies erratically, frequently injuring bystanders, and the bottle or cans used to launch them often explode, showering fragments of glass or metal in all directions.

Sparklers burn at 1,800 F (hot enough to melt gold) and cause third degree burns.

The typical victim is a male, ages 13-15, at home with a group of friends, no adults present. The typical firework is a bottle rocket, which leads to severe eye damage. The treatment is immediate surgical intervention; multiple follow-up surgeries. The probable outcome: permanent visual loss; frequently, loss of an eye.