Ocular problems in military free fall parachutists.
Military free fall parachutists may be unaware of the risk of corneal freezing and desiccation keratitis should their goggles come off during free fall in subfreezing temperatures. We determine the incidence of ocular difficulties in military free fall parachutists and the role freezing temperatures may play in causing these problems. We found that 79% of those who responded to the survey had lost their goggles at least once during free fall and 69% experienced ocular symptoms after goggle loss. Analysis shows a 30-fold increase in the duration of symptoms in subfreezing vs. above-freezing temperatures, with the odds of the ground mission being affected at 7.3 per 100 jumps in the subfreezing group. The rate of goggles coming off per jump is 3.3 times less with >75 jumps. Contact lenses are not protective and photorefractive keratectomy was not detrimental.
Gruppo
Leonard
L
Department of Emergency Medicine, Darnall Army Community Hospital, Fort Hood, TX 76544-4752, USA. gruppol@hotmail.com
Mader
Thomas H
TH
Wedmore
Ian
I
D000531:Altitude; D001359:Aviation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003080:Cold Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005131:Eye Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005135:Eye Protective Devices; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies