Ocular dangers in the garden. A new menace--nylon line lawn trimmers.

Nylon line lawn trimmers represent a source of potentially devastating ocular trauma. Five cases of ocular trauma associated with the use of line trimmers are reported. These case reports document new mechanisms and circumstances of injury, including trauma from debris other than nylon line fragments and injury to bystanders. Furthermore, injuries are often serious, with two of these patients requiring an evisceration or enucleation after endophthalmitis developed. In one patient, six different organisms were cultured and another patient exhibited an Aspergillus organism and Propionibacterium acnes. As nylon trimmers gain in popularity, they will become an increasingly frequent source of ocular injury. A retrospective 40-month review of 85 cases (87 eyes) of penetrating and perforating ocular trauma shows line trimmers to be the fifth leading cause of such injury.