During the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday, many people suffered eye injuries due to firecrackers. Bach Mai Hospital reported that during the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday, the hospital received many cases of serious eye injuries caused by firecracker explosions, with the majority of victims being children and teenagers.
According to doctors, most patients were admitted in very serious condition with injuries such as: corneal tears, perforated eyeballs, ruptured eyeballs, intraocular hemorrhage, metal foreign bodies deeply embedded in the eyes, thermal burns, and chemical burns to the face. These are all injuries that can leave severe sequelae, even irreversible ones.
Among the firecracker victims was a 10-year-old child in Hanoi who picked up leftover firecrackers in the yard and secretly lit them without his parents' knowledge. As a result, the firecracker hit his eye, causing intraocular hemorrhage and severely affecting his vision.
Another case involved a 48-year-old female patient in Ha Tinh Province who, while visiting relatives during Tet (the Lunar New Year), was unexpectedly hit in the eye by a firework, causing damage to the entire eyeball, upper and lower eyelids, multiple foreign objects in the eye socket and sinuses, along with a traumatic brain injury that resulted in irreversible vision loss.
Meanwhile, at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, from February 14 to February 21, approximately 800 patients were examined and treated, including 28 cases due to fireworks and homemade firework accidents and 5 cases due to accidents involving homemade weapons and materials.
Data provided by the Ministry of Health, derived from reports submitted by medical institutions across the nation, indicates that between February 14 and February 20, there were 316 instances of examination and emergency treatment resulting from fireworks and firework explosions throughout the country, leading to 12 fatalities.
According to some medical experts, in cases of firework accidents, children are often at high risk because they are curious, like to play with and watch fireworks, but lack the skills to identify and handle danger. Children often don't know how to choose a safe place to watch fireworks. Therefore, just a moment of carelessness from adults combined with the curiosity of young children can lead to very unfortunate accidents.
Medical professionals recommend that individuals who sustain eye injuries from fireworks refrain from rubbing their eyes, avoid attempting to remove any foreign objects on their own, and should not use eye drops indiscriminately; instead, the affected person should carefully cover the eye with a sterile gauze and promptly seek assistance at the nearest specialized eye care facility.
