Play it Safe

Lakes provide refreshment, entertainment and fun. However, there are injuries unique to lakes and the water activities they invite.

My most memorable fishhook injury happened when my son, age 15 at the time, somehow got a treble hook stuck into his index finger. We can laugh about it now, but at the time it was one of the most stressful experiences. It was one of those hot, sweaty summer days (90°F) and we did not have air conditioning. Josh was very calm, but I had to decide the most pain-free way to remove the hook. The hook had penetrated about halfway through his finger. It was a hook that had a barb on it. Usually the best way to remove that kind of hook is to pass it completely through, to avoid additional tissue injury from the barb on the way out. I could see that to do that it would have to pass through bone, so I decided to pull it out the way it went in.

Since the patient was my son, it was a particularly stressful decision. I decided to inject lidocaine into the hole that the hook had created, and then pull it out with a needle driver. I did just that. It worked well. But trying to be fast and careful and being nervous at the same time, I recoiled and jabbed the hook into my own finger. I couldn’t believe it! Now I had to remove it again, this time from myself. Fortunately, there was just enough lidocaine to repeat the same procedure. It went perfectly, without the recoil. 🙂

Most injuries at the lake can be avoided with a little thought and effort. Being an eye surgeon, allow me to talk about eye injuries at the lake—starting with fishhooks. Careless or inexperienced fishermen often are not aware of the route their hook takes before it leaves the confines of the boat. The velocity of the hook as the fisherman casts the pole only magnifies the potential danger. We probably all have a story of someone in our family who has been the recipient of a hook. A few remember when the hook caught a friend’s eye. A cut to an eye can be bad but can usually be repaired. However, think about the dirty hook that has passed through a worm, or the lip of a fish, or sat on the floor of the boat. The bacteria that a hook introduces can be much more harmful than the actual cut.

During my residency training for ophthalmology, a young woman came to the emergency department with a fishhook injury to her eye. She said that her boyfriend was fishing in the same boat and his hook apparently caught on a log underneath the water. As he tried to free it, he yanked the pole hard, and the next thing she knew she felt something hit her eye and she lost her vision immediately in that eye. We found that her cornea had a full-thickness cut, and her lens was cloudy and was punctured. She brought the hook in still tied to the fishing line, but half the hook was missing. We all assumed it was still stuck in the log until we did an X-ray. The X-ray revealed that the other half of the hook was sitting inside her eye, against her retina. Moral of the story: Be careful when you fish, try to be aware where your hook is all the time and keep it away from passengers when you cast.

Most of us enjoy a day on the dock, on the boat or in the shade under a nice tree near the water. Our parents always told us, “Wear your sunglasses! If you don’t, you’ll shoot your eye out, kid.” Oh, wait … that last part was from a movie. However, our parents were right. Without UV protection your eyes can suffer damage. UV, or ultraviolet, rays are the wavelength of light that comes from the sun that can damage your retina, in particular the macula and the lens. Good sunglasses with UV protection will filter out the UV wavelength. Some believe UV rays can contribute to macular degeneration and cataracts. (A cataract is when the lens, just behind the pupil, gets cloudy.) Without proper sunglasses, one can also get solar keratitis or severe irritation on the cornea (the surface or clear bubble over the front of your eye). Solar keratitis is similar to burns that welders get on their eyes if they don’t wear proper eye protection. All these injuries are easily preventable—just wear proper eyewear with UV protection.

We all know about skin cancer. Basal cell, squamous cell and melanoma, in that order, are the three most common skin cancers that result from overexposure to the sun. The lower eyelid (the place of most exposure to the sun) is the most common place we find skin cancer around the eye. Please know that the sunlight reflecting off the water while you are sitting under the shade tree is just as potent. Applying sunscreen is a simple step to take to prevent damage.

Our lakes are meant to be enjoyed. So, get out there and play a little. Just be sure to take precautions to avoid any injury to yourself or others.

Dr. Joseph Holicki, D.O.
Holicki Eye Centers and Optical
142 E. Chicago Rd
Coldwater, MI 49036
517-279-7927
holickieyecenters.com

Dr. Joseph Holicki, D.O. and his eyecare team of providers, Dr. Emily Emerson, O.D. and Dr. Brittany Hoolsema, O.D. have 3 offices for your convenience: Coldwater, Sturgis and Angola, Indiana.