New York – More than 70,000 children and teens go to the emergency room each year for injuries and complications from medical devices, and contact lenses are the leading culprit, the first detailed national estimate suggests.
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About one-fourth of the problems were things like infections and eye abrasions in contact lens wearers. These are sometimes preventable and can result from wearing contact lenses too long without cleaning them.
Other common problems found by researchers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration include puncture wounds from hypodermic needles breaking off in the skin while injecting medicine or illegal drugs; infections in young children with ear tubes; and skin tears from pelvic devices used during gynecological exams in teen girls.
Malfunction and misuse are among possible reasons; the researchers are working to determine how and why the injuries occurred and also are examining the prevalence in adults. Those efforts might result in FDA device warnings, depending on what they find, said study co-author Dr. Brock Hefflin.
The most serious problems involved implanted devices such as brain shunts for kids with hydrocephalus (water on the brain); chest catheters for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy at home; and insulin pumps for diabetics. Infections and overdoses are among problems associated with these devices. Only 6 percent of patients overall had to be hospitalized.
Dr. Steven Krug, head of emergency medicine at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital, said the study highlights a trade-off linked with medical advances that have enabled chronically ill children to be treated at home and live more normal lives.
Home care can be challenging for families; Krug says he has seen children brought in because catheters were damaged or became infected.
“Health care providers need to be aware of these kids and their devices and how to recognize or diagnose” related problems, Krug said. He was not involved in the study.
The study appears in Pediatrics, published online Monday.
Hefflin and lead author Dr. Cunlin Wang work in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. They note there has been recent concern about medical device safety in children, particularly since many devices intended for adults are used in children.
The researchers analyzed medical records from ER visits reported in a national injury surveillance system. Based on data from about 100 nationally representative hospitals, they estimated that 144,799 medical device-related complications occurred during 2004 and 2005, or more than 70,000 yearly.
Almost 34,000 problems were linked with contact lenses in the two-year period. The rest were scattered among 12 other categories including general medical devices such as needles and catheters, gynecology devices and heart devices.
Hefflin said the study is the first to evaluate device-related injuries in children only. It did not include device problems in already hospitalized children
Corneal abrasions are super painful. Once I scratched my eye while turning the page of a newspaper with my glasses off. They would only use the numbing drops when examining me (they said it wouldn’t heal otherwise), and I had to wear a contact lens to protect it. I don’t like things in my eye so between the scratch and the contact lens, I was in misery.
So now all liberal nut jobs out there will say we need to make all these things illegal. lol
So now all liberal nut jobs out there will say we need to make all these things illegal. lol
I have been wearing contacts for three years, and I have yet to have any problems. As long as you clean them daily, and dont sleep in them youre fine
those teens must be real slobs I am not to most meticulous cleaner of my lenses and never had a problem. Once I did but that was some sand got in my eye and got behind my hard contact lenses.
The solution is, more lessons to the patients before they send them home and to the parents. Also they must really hammer it in what will go wrong if they mishandle and or do not follow instuctions.
And of course there are a certain percentage of people who are idiots, and no amount of lessons will help
this is fascinating.
I was considering getting contacts several years ago, but had heard that the Lubavitcher Rebbe wasn’t happy with people using them, for this reason.
I called R’ Leibel Groner, the Rebbe’s secretary for 40 years and he confirmed that the Rebbe said this.
I was considering my options and decided to stay with the glasses. (the sofek was to do with the fact that we have soft contacts now, which weren’t available then)
Looks like the Rebbe was right about this.
I’ve been wearing contacts for 5 years daily and I never had a problem. I think they are the greatest invention ever. I feel like I never needed glasses when I wear them.
obviously some eyes can handle them, and some can’t. medically, it is is preferable to wear contacts to glasses, i personally know someone who nneded surgery to save her eyesight which was amost lost due to contacts. also, a rebbe is not just a rov- he is someone we turn to for every question we may have.