Doctor shares his study on vision damage caused by paintball attacks; "you only have two eyes"
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Paintball attacks. Thankfully it's been a while since we've seen a string of them where people were minding their own business then suddenly battered, bruised, even blinded.
Morning Insider Lauren Victory takes us inside new research that studies the lasting impact of paintball assaults, long after they leave the headlines.
Getting pelted with paint is fun for some people - people that play paintball responsibly. They wear a full body get-up, with safety gear that includes a helmet and googles, because those balls of paint can do damage.
"They explode upon impact. Their force is distributed over a very small area," explains ophthalmology resident Dr. Shivam Amin. He's treated several people hurt by paintballs.
Dr. Amin's patients didn't get hit on a field, but in the city, "just waiting at a bus stop or a street corner," he said.
The victims were unsuspecting, and therefore unprotected, when shot at close range by attackers.
Previous CBS 2 coverage shows the welts on people's stomachs, wounds on backs and arms, and circular marks on the head.
Those bruises hurt, but fade.
Dr. Amin and his colleagues at University of Chicago Medicine wanted to research the long-lasting impact of paintball assaults on the eye.
"The extent of the injuries and how devastating the outcomes were for these patients was surprising," he said.
Their study, "Ocular Injuries from Drive-By Paintball Shootings," looked at data from 20 victims hit in Chicago paintball attacks. Many needed surgery, and in six cases their eyeballs actually ruptured, requiring stitches.
"We sew the eye back together and fill it with material to … help it maintain its normal shape," said Dr. Amin.
Those ruptures could cause light sensitivity, blindness or even worse: full eyeball removal.
"They're weapons. It's a malicious act," said Chicago Police Deputy Chief Ernesto Cato in October 2020, after CPD cracked down on paintball assaults, seizing equipment and arresting six people.
Unfortunately the terrorizing continued, with several more attacks in 2021 that sent more patients to University of Chicago Medicine.
"We're always concerned when someone suffers any sort of injury that results in permanent vision damage, because you only have two eyes," said Dr. Amin.
It's not a game, he said, unless you are playing paintball properly and with protection.
Dr. Amin is the lead author of the aforementioned study that was accepted this month by the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
