Bowled Over by Cricket: Impact of Tape-Ball Injuries on the Eyes

Abstract

Our study calls for the compulsory use of protective eyewear by cricket players and for countrywide surveillance data on the true burden of this "unnoticed" preventable cause of unilateral eye injuries and associated vision loss.

A 3-year prospective study on ocular injuries with tennis or cricket ball while playing cricket: A case series

“…showed that surgery was done in almost 60% of cases and there was severe or total vision loss in half of the eyes of cricket tape-ball-related eye injury study. [ 23 ] In contrast, only 23 (30.26%) cases required surgical intervention in our study and vision got improved in almost half (48.68%) of the cases presented to us.…”

“…A tape-ball cricket-related eye injury study by Sadiq et al . [ 23 ] in 2017 showed median age of 20.5 years (range, 11–78 years) which included 19 males and one female (bystander).…”

“…Sadiq et al . [ 23 ] in 2017 found that retina was the most commonly involved ocular structure. However, in our study, out of 76 cases, majority of cases had blurring of vision in association with superficial injuries such as subconjunctival hemorrhage, lid edema, uveitis, conjunctival congestion, and chemosis.…”

A Systematic Review of Head, Neck and-Facial Injuries in Cricket

“…Eight studies reported all HNF injuries in combination 4 11 27 28 29 30 33 37 , and five studies each reported results only under head injuries 24 31 34 43 47 and facial injuries 32 38 40 44 45 . A cumulative total of each type of HNF injury is provided in Fig.…”

“…More than 50% of the studies (16/29) included elite level that comprised of international, state or provincial level professional players. Five studies reported on HNF injuries in school cricketers 26 29 31 32 35 while four reported on community club level participants 33 42 44 45 . Three studies had no clear definition of the level of play 38 40 43 and one study reported on all levels of play 41 .…”