While walking down the street, a 27-year-old woman identified as P.A. from Thanh Hoa province was struck in the eye by a stray steel ball fired from a slingshot, resulting in permanent blindness in one eye and a shrunken eyeball.

She was rushed to the Central Eye Hospital in Hanoi in critical condition with severe trauma to her left eye, including lacerations to the cornea and sclera. Doctors successfully removed the steel ball during emergency surgery. Despite aggressive treatment, the injury proved too severe, and the eye lost all vision permanently.

In another case, a 9-year-old H’Mong boy from Son La province, named G.A.H., was admitted to the same hospital with a foreign object embedded in his eye. He arrived with a torn inner eyelid and no response to light perception in his left eye. Imaging revealed a 3–4mm round object - suspected to be a steel ball - lodged in the eye socket.

According to his family, the boy had been playing with friends while hunting mice in the fields using a slingshot loaded with steel pellets. However, no one could clearly explain how the projectile entered his eye.

Dr. Tham Truong Khanh Van, Head of the Ocular Trauma Department at the Central Eye Hospital, stated on April 1 that the boy's eye injury was extremely serious and carried a high risk of permanent vision loss.

“For now, we are administering intensive medication to reduce inflammation and swelling. Surgery to remove the object behind the eyeball and further treatment will follow,” Dr. Van explained.

Steel-ball slingshots are commonly used by children and teenagers, especially in rural areas. However, medical experts warn that they are extremely dangerous and can cause not only blindness but also life-threatening injuries due to their high penetrating power.

Vo Thu