Eye Troubles by the Dozen

Eye specialists in England are reporting troubling statistics about a popular prank - egg hurling! Nearly everyone is familiar with the mischievous practice of 'egging' someone's doorsteps or automobile. A quick hosing and the mess is eliminated, no genuine harm done. It seems that British troublemakers have taken it one step further and have started hurling raw eggs directly at innocent passers-by. Supposedly, this practice gains popularity around Halloween. Heads up guv'nor!

Click here to read the entire eggs-pose.

Like other pranks that begin as 'good clean fun', egg hurling is remarkably dangerous. Since a thrown egg is essentially a high-energy, noncompressible, fluid-filled missile, the potential for personal injury is real. In just a year one UK eye clinic treated 13 eye injuries caused by flying eggs. Every patient was a young male (duhh?)

The weight and oval shape of the egg can cause serious eye trauma. The problem is unusually worrisome not only because of the immediate hemorrhage and internal eye damage, but also because such injuries lead to serious problems later in life - problems like glaucoma. If you ask me, anyone who throws an egg at another human is cracked!

Import the Beatles, import Monty Python, even import Simon Cowell, but I recommend we not import egg hurling.

Related Topics: WebMD Video: The Teen Brain, Halloween Safety Tips


Technorati Tags: egg hurling, eye injury, halloween