Ocular trauma secondary to exercise resistance bands during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: To characterize injuries caused by exercise resistance bands. Method: Single-site retrospective case series of patients presenting to the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute emergency room with ocular injuries secondary to exercise resistance bands from March through September 2020. Results: Eleven patients (9 males, 2 females, 14 eyes) were reviewed. Eight patients had a unilateral injury (3 right eyes, 5 left eyes) while 3 had bilateral injuries. Iritis was the most common presentation, seen in all 11 patients, followed by hyphema (9 patients, 82%), and vitreous hemorrhage (4 patients, 36%). Among affected eyes, the mean presenting visual acuity was approximately 20/100, improving to 20/40 on the last follow up (p = 0.06). However, 4 eyes (33%) had vision ≤20/60 at last follow up. Conclusions: Exercise resistance bands can cause a wide spectrum of ocular injuries, some leading to long-term vision loss. As such, we recommend that patients strongly consider using eye protection goggles or glasses while using resistance bands for exercise.