Teen's Personal Disaster Sparks a Fireworks Warning

Teen's accident a reminder of the dangers of fireworks

THURSDAY, June 13, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Frank Muchna's Independence Day ended with a terrible bang last year when he was nearly blinded by a bottle rocket's red glare.

The Tinley Park, Ill., resident and his friends decided to drive to a beach in southwest Michigan to mark the Fourth of July. As night came, some other people on the beach started setting off fireworks, but Muchna and his friends weren't concerned about it.

"We were just sitting around and this whistling (sound) comes from behind me," Muchna recalls.

He felt something hot strike his arm. He looked down and saw a bottle rocket sizzling on his skin. In a normal reflex action, he flicked his elbow up to shake off the errant firework. But the bottle rocket hit his fingers, bounced into his right eye, and exploded.

It was a moment that could have changed everything for Muchna, who was 17 at the time. A competitive swimmer, he'd just graduated from high school and had a partial swimming scholarship to attend Eastern Illinois University in the fall.

Suddenly -- dazed, ears ringing, blood streaming down his face, and unable to see out of his right eye -- the aspiring champion swimmer's plans were in doubt.

His friends knew they had to get him to a hospital, but they didn't know the area. They decided to drive back to the Chicago region.

They took Muchna to the Ingalls Hospital emergency room in Harvey, Ill., where he became another fireworks injury statistic.

Make sure that doesn't happen to you on this Independence Day or at any other time of the year, says Prevent Blindness America (PBA), a national volunteer eye health and safety organization based in Schaumburg, Ill.

There were 2,000 fireworks-related eye injuries in the United States in 2000, making eyes the part of the body most commonly injured by fireworks, PBA says.

Overall, there were 10 deaths and 11,000 fireworks-related injuries, including burns, contusions and lacerations, treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms in 2000. About 6,600 of those injuries occurred during the one-month period around the Fourth of July, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says. And children under the age of 15 were the victims in about half those incidents, the agency adds.

Firecrackers accounted for 24 percent of all injuries, followed by rockets (20 percent) and sparklers (18 percent). But 25 percent of eye injuries were caused by rockets, with firecrackers causing 20 percent of the eye injuries, and sparklers 15 percent, the CPSC says.

While Muchna had the misfortune to become one of those statistics, he was lucky in other ways.

Dr. Sriram Sonty was the ophthalmologist on call when Muchna arrived at Ingalls Hospital. He found that Muchna had a major corneal laceration that needed 12 stitches across the eye. It's a type of injury that can leave a major scar, which can affect a person's vision and sometimes results in the formation of a cataract, Sonty says.

"Because he's young, he healed well. But this could have been much worse. If it had gone further into the eye, it could have damaged the whole eye, like the retina and the optic nerve," Sonty says.

"He's really lucky in a way," Sonty adds. "It's unfortunate he was there but lucky that the damage wasn't worse."

In the early stages of healing, Sonty couldn't guarantee Muchna that he'd regain full vision in the eye or that he'd be able to return to competitive swimming. Sonty warned Muchna he might need a corneal transplant if his eye didn't heal properly.

It took about two weeks before vision started to return to Muchna's eye. His sight in that eye is now back to normal. He completed his freshman year at Eastern Illinois University with an outstanding record at his swim meets.

Muchna says he's grateful to Sonty for saving his eye. His experience has made him a vocal opponent of private fireworks, so much so that he is now the PBA's official spokesperson for Fireworks Safety Month, which this year runs from June 1 to July 4.

But Muchna admits he hadn't really ever been concerned about fireworks safety -- until his accident.

"To tell you the truth, I really didn't think they were that dangerous. I thought they don't look like they can hurt anybody, and I was surprised at how much damage they could actually do," Muchna says.

He urges people to avoid private fireworks and says you should only go to authorized, public fireworks displays. He supports the PBA policies and tips, which include the following:

  • Do not purchase, use or store fireworks of any type.
  • Be aware that even sparklers are dangerous. They burn as hot as 1800 F and cause 15 percent of eye injuries.
  • Protect yourself, your family and friends by avoiding fireworks.
  • Attend only authorized public fireworks displays, but be aware that even professional displays can be dangerous.
  • Support legislation that restricts the importation, general sale and indiscriminate use of fireworks by adults and children.

The PBA isn't the only organization warning about fireworks.

Private fireworks should be snuffed out to lower the risk of death, injuries and fires, say the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

The two groups say fireworks are too dangerous for untrained people to use in their backyards, at the cottage or anywhere else. Fireworks should be limited to public displays conducted by professionals.

Personal injury isn't the only threat posed by fireworks. In 1998, fireworks caused almost 22,000 fires, the NFPA estimates. And on Independence Day alone, fireworks cause more fires in the United States than all other causes of fire combined for that day.

What To Do

For more information about fireworks safety, go to Prevent Blindness America, the NFPA or the AAP.

And the Consumer Products Safety Commission has a list of all state and federal regulations for fireworks.

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