Data from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information show an increased rate of emergency room visits and hospitalizations from injuries caused by dog bites. Annual Emergency Room visits for dog bites have recently exceeded over 50,000 cases. Many of these cases proceed to litigation to assess the extent of injury and the long-term prognosis. A qualified board-certified ophthalmologist is consulted in many dog bite cases where ocular injuries are present. Expert eye witness reports and testimony are often helpful for litigation.
Children and young adults are most likely to visit an Emergency Room following a dog bite. Dog bites that involve the eye can be serious and vision-threatening. A dog bite to the eye can damage muscles that control movement of the eye. A vision-threating dog bite can consist of a perforation of the eye with damage to structures inside the eye or an intraocular infection. Many dog bite injuries involve the eyelid and tear duct. Eyelids damaged by a dog bite may not close properly and lead to excessive dryness of the eye, corneal erosions, and gross disfiguration. If there is damage to the tear duct, patients may experience chronic tearing that may need to be corrected by surgery.
Expert witness evaluation by an ophthalmologist experienced in ocular trauma is often sought to determine the significance and extent of injury. Before and after photographs of the site of dog bite injury may be helpful in documenting the extent of disfigurement and for surgical planning. Medical records can be helpful for establishing causation, location of injury, and important ocular structures that have been damaged.
Dog bite injuries of the eye are not limited to a specific breed of dog. The severity of injury is also not necessarily correlated with the type of dog, but is often associated with the location and depth of the dog bite. Ocular expert witness evaluation and testimony for dog bite injuries of the eye can be helpful to understand the mechanism of injury, degree of damage, and prognosis.
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for Dog Bite Injuries of the Eye