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Penetrating eye injury from rear view mirrors
  1. C Cole,
  2. S Tuft
  1. Moorfields Eye Hospital, 162 City Road, London EC1V 2PD, UK
  1. Correspondence to: MrStephen Tuft Moorfields Eye Hospital, 162 City Road, London EC1V 2PD, UK; s.tuftucl.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjo.2003.038653

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    Penetrating eye injuries are a common complication of severe motor vehicle accidents. The majority of cases accompany facial laceration when the head of a front seat occupant passes forward, and then back, through the broken windshield. The frequency of such injuries has been greatly reduced since legislation was introduced to make the wearing of seatbelts for all occupants and the use of laminated windshield glass compulsory. Glass entering the car through an open side window from a broken external rear view mirror is an uncommon but potentially preventable cause of severe ocular injury. First reported in 1990 by Keenan1 there have been two subsequent reports from Australia.2,3 We report two further cases and highlight deficiencies in legislation regarding the manufacture of external rear view mirrors.

    Case reports

    Case 1

    A 17 year old man was driving a 1987 registered Fiat Uno when the driver’s external rear view mirror struck an oncoming van. The mirror broke and a fragment of glass passed through the open side window and hit his left eye. …

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