Aim: To describe our series of bottle cork and cap injuries to the eye in order to report the visual impairment and clinical outcomes observed in 34 cases over an 8-year period.
Methods: Retrospective review of the database of the Ophthalmology Institute of Modena from January 1999 to September 2007. All patients presented with closed-globe injury according to Kuhn et al.'s classification. All the cases were caused by sparkling wine: white in 24 cases and red in ten cases.
Results: The incidence varied between six and two cases a year (average 3.89). Bottle cork and cap injuries represent 11% of all injuries admitted to our department in the period considered in our series. In details: nine patients recovered totally, 22 patients recovered partially, three patients had a severe visual outcome (<grade 3 according to trauma classification system, BCVA < 0.2). Five patients needed a surgical procedure. The most frequent ocular lesion was hyphema; the worst was retinal detachment due to a giant retinal tear and two patients suffered very severe visual impairment.
Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the largest series of bottle cork and cap injuries to the eye published to date. This kind of injury can be potentially sight-threatening, leading to severe visual loss in a small percentage of cases. We highlight the need for preventative measures such as labelling or devices to regulate cork pressure.