EYE INJURIES AN OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD OF MAKING METH

NEW YORK - The cases of three people who suffered serious eye injuries
while illegally manufacturing methamphetamine highlight the dangers of
making the drug, US doctors report.

One man lost an eye and became legally blind in the other, while the other
two lost some vision.

Their injuries resulted from burns caused by a chemical often used to make
methamphetamine called anhydrous ammonia.

Dr. Preston H. Blomquist and his colleagues describe the cases in the
January issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Anhydrous ammonia burns are more damaging than burns from an acid,
Blomquist, of the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center and Parkland
Memorial Hospital in Dallas, told Reuters Health.

Unlike these other types of burns, anhydrous ammonia will damage both the
surface of the eye and its internal structures, Blomquist explained. He
added that the chemical likely can't penetrate skin, but can still cause
severe external injuries.

Blomquist recommended that anyone who gets burned by anhydrous ammonia or a
similar substance, such as lye, immediately treat the burn with water.

"So if that means jumping in a swimming pool, sticking your head in a
toilet, I don't care," he said.

The use of anhydrous ammonia is growing in popularity, according to
Blomquist and his colleagues, and he predicted the rate of eye injuries
linked to cooking meth will "most likely" increase as well.

More people manufacturing methamphetamine--also known as "glass," "crank"
and other street names--are now turning to anhydrous ammonia because the
chemical is quick, cheap, requires only a small setup, and yields a good
amount of the drug.

Meth manufacturers often steal anhydrous ammonia from storage tanks on
farms, where it is used as a fertilizer. If the chemical heats up at any
point during the theft or the transfer to a manufacturing site, it can blow
up, causing eye and facial burns, Blomquist said.

In addition, he noted, explosions can happen during the manufacturing
process, which takes place in clandestine labs, often located in a motel,
van or trailer.

Blomquist and his colleagues describe the cases of three men who came to
the emergency room within three months of each other. In two cases, the men
lost a certain amount of sight from their injuries.

In the third case, a 49-year-old man waited three days after his injury to
visit a doctor. This patient lost one eye, and much of his vision in the other.

"He was legally blind," Blomquist said.

All of the patients initially denied they were making methamphetamine, and
one patient continued to deny it, although he changed his story several
times before leaving the hospital, according to the report.

According to Blomquist, it is crucial that doctors know the cause of burns
like these, since they treat anhydrous ammonia burns differently than other
burns.

SOURCE: Annals of Emergency Medicine 2003;41:157.