Eye specialist warns parents not to give toy guns as gifts

Santo Domingo.- According to specialist medical staff at the Cardio-Neuro-Ophthalmological and Transplant Center (Cecanot), around15 children have been treated for eye injuries caused by toy pistols that shootplastic pellets, over the past three days.

Center director Dr. Federico Núñez said thatparents should not give children pistols or rifles that shoot pellets as gifts,as they could end up harming a child’s eye and cause ocular trauma known ashyphema.

He explained thathyphema is a collection of blood in the front part of the eye (the spacebetween the cornea and the iris) that can lead to loss of vision.

“This happens because it causes a traumatic glaucoma that willproduce lesions in the optic nerve and could lead to a loss of vision in theeye,” said Dr. Núñez.

He pointed out that the number of children with eye injuriescould increase due to Three Kings Day.