Eye Hospital’s youngest fireworks patient is 7; Eye removed from another NYE victim

The Rotterdam Eye Hospital had to remove an eye when treating one of the fireworks victims sent to the specialist hospital, a spokesperson said. It was previously known that this person was going to be permanently blind in one eye, but the eye turned out to be so badly damaged that it had to be removed completely, she said.

The patient will receive a prosthetic eye. In total, the Rotterdam Eye Hospital has so far treated 25 people with serious eye injuries caused by fireworks. The figure rose from 17 earlier on New Year’s Day morning, to 24 by the end of Sunday afternoon.

The youngest victim so far is seven years old, and five of the victims are under the age of 17. Seven people had to undergo surgery. For example, so much gunpowder wound up in their eyes, that debris had to be removed with tweezers, according to the hospital spokesperson. It is not yet possible to say how many of the victims will have permanent injuries because of the celebrations at the turn of the new year. They will first have to recover over the coming days.

During the New Year’s period bringing in the start of 2020, the hospital treated eighteen patients with eye injuries caused by fireworks. During the two years after when coronavirus restrictions were in place, the hospital treated far fewer eye patients. On January 1, 2022, the Rotterdam Eye Hospital treated five fireworks victims. None of them underwent surgery at the time.

The figure returning to pre-Covid levels prompted means, “We’re back to square one,” said one of the hospital’s ophthalmologists, Tjeerd de Faber, during an interview. "It's a shame that this has to be the price of celebrating New Year's again."

The number of victims at the start of 2021 was so low due to coronavirus restrictions, that he called it his “calmest New Year’s Eve in 34 years.” A year later, his hospital treated five victims in total. This year, De Faber expected at least five of the patients brought to the hospital to have permanent damage.

De Faber has been arguing for years for a permanent nationwide ban on fireworks to prevent eye injuries from fireworks.