Dad shot in face with a Nerf gun by his son feared his eyeball would POP OUT
Steve Haddock is now warning other parents of the dangers of Nerf guns after a foam bullet hit him in the eye
A DAD-of-three who was shot in the face with a toy gun by one of his sons has described how he feared his eyeball would pop out of its socket.
Steve Haddock, from Indianapolis, US, was playing with his three young sons with Nerf Firestrike Elite guns in their back garden when fun turned into horror and a foam bullet hit him in the eye.
Recalling the ordeal, Steve told the : “Charlie, my six-year-old son, lifted the gun and fired a quick shot. He was 20ft away… and it hit me straight, square in the eye.
“I dropped to the ground, my eye watering. I covered up my good eye and realised I was completely blind - couldn’t see a thing.”
The 42-year-old suffered hyphema - a collection of blood inside the space between the cornea and the iris in the eye leaving him in excruciating pain because of the pressure.
His eye pressure reached 52 mm Hg - a normal range is between 12 and 22 mm Hg - putting him at serious risk of complication.
He said doctors feared his eyeball could pop straight out of its socket at any time because of the high eye pressure.
After being treated, Steve was sent home and ordered to spend a week on bed rest with a cocktail of painkillers, steroids and anti-inflammatory medication.
He also had to wear an eye-patch for a week after being told the injury could result in permanent blindness.
Luckily, it took him two weeks for the dad regain his eyesight.
But he will be required to do twice-yearly eye checks for the rest of his life as he’s at risk of developing glaucoma after the accident.
Steve is now warning other parents of the dangers of Nerf guns and is calling for the mandatory inclusion of goggles in every foam dart toy gun box sold.
He added: "The manufacturers of these guns have choking warnings on the packaging and they advise not to point at the eyes or face.
“But there’s often nothing about wearing safety glasses. And yet it’d cost just a few cents for them to include goggles with the guns. The manufacturers are choosing not to."
