His cornea was burnt and lens ruptured after chemicals from a fire cracker entered his eye

Deepa Suryanarayan , Mumbai 

When New Panvel-based businessman Sukhwinder Singh took his wife and two children for a wedding on Saturday evening, little did he know that the happy occasion would turn into a nightmare for the family. Singh’s youngest son, seven-month-old Dilpreet almost lost his eyesight in a freak fire cracker accident during the wedding.
“We were watching the fire works display at around 8:30pm, when suddenly a ‘lari’ (fire cracker string) burst very close to where we were standing. We heard Dilpreet crying and assumed that he was frightened by the noise,” said Singh.

But when Dilpreet’s mother, Inderjit Kaur noticed blood gushing from his left eye, she knew that something was terribly wrong. Contaminated material as well as chemicals, particularly sulphur particles from the cracker, had entered the toddler’s eye. The Singhs immediately rushed Dilpreet to their doctor, who referred them to an eye specialist at Vashi’s MGM Hospital . “His injury was very serious, and he needed an emergency surgery at a specialized hospital, so we decided to bring him to Mumbai,” revealed Singh. Dilpreet underwent two surgeries at Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital , Wadala, to save his eye.

“It was a very serious case. The child’s cornea was torn, the lens had ruptured, and he had developed a cataract,” said Dr S Natarajan, medical director of the hospital, who performed the one-and-half-hour long surgeries. “The corneal stitching was done on Sunday, while we performed a lensectomy and vitrectomy on Monday morning. The infection is now under control,” the surgeon added.

However, it is too early to say if Dilpreet will regain his sight fully. “We have saved the eye, but it may take two to three months for his eye to recover. He may need a corneal transplant and we will have to check the status of the retina after the recovery,” said Natarajan. “Injuries to the eye due to fire cracker accidents are not as uncommon as one would like to believe,” said the eye surgeon. “Every year, during Diwali, we receive as many as 10 to 15 cases, of which at least four are serious. While people love bursting fire-crackers, they should remember that crackers can do great damage to the eyes unless used with caution,” said Dr Natarajan.

The Singhs have already learnt their lesson the hard way. “The government should ban firecrackers. I will never let my children play with them every again,” said Singh.