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Michael J Kutryb, MD  
Male

Specialties: Ophthalmology, Cataract Surgery, glaucoma

Interests: Ophthalmology

Kutryb Eye Institute - Titusville
321-267-2020
Titusville, FL
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Paintball Blowguns Will Cause Serious Eye Injuries, Even Blindness

Jan 23, 2010 - 3 comments

My kids love to watch the Nickelodeon Channel show ICarly but I was appalled to see characters on the show Spencer and Sam pelting each between the eyes at point blank range with paintball blowguns.  I have treated horrible injuries to kids from regular paintball guns but my research shows that these new paintball blowguns are just as potent.  They are fairly silent and perfect for hitting unsuspecting victims.  The paintballs can reach velocity of 450 feet per second and have a range of up to 150 yards.  The longer the barrel, the higher the velocity.  Please take my advice and use these type of blowguns with extreme caution and always require 100% of the time that all participants and bystanders use proper ANSI approved eye protection.  Trust me I have seen the devestation that paintballs and arisoft pellets can do eyes.  It is a very sad situation to tell a young kid and the parents that an eye is permanantly disfugured and blind.

In the meantime I will be writing the producers of the ICarly show and asking them to at least show viewers how to wear proper eye protection.

Michael Kutryb, MD

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by caregiver222, Jan 24, 2010
You provide really great advice. I used to paintball, and one thing you mention is that spectators never used protective eye equipment. And we used to always have spectators. I would drop a certified letter to the show's legal division and inform them you are a physician and their irresponsible depiction subjects them to litigation and you'd be happy to testify on behalf of anyone harmed  if the situation is not remedied.

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by RogueEcho, Feb 28, 2010
You do realize it's a fictitious television show with actors, and nothing they do is real, yes?  As a parent, I am able to explain to my 8 year old son what "real paintball" games are like, the right kind of safety gear needed to play, and warn him that paintballs hurt at close range and are potentially dangerous.  If he still wants to play, it will be under adult supervision in a controlled environment - certainly never indoors!  I can do this because I pay attention to what my child watches on television.  If iCarly's use of fictitious paintball games in their make-believe world offends you, change the channel.  My TV offers me over 300+ channels - it's not that big a deal to switch over to the Discovery channel or the History channel.  But stop expecting television to teach our children life lessons - that's a parent's job.  And please stop blaming television for poor parenting decisions.

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by siggyluvingal, Sep 08, 2010
YOU GO RogueEcho! I am SOOOOO tired of parents whining that TV taught their kids this or taught their kids that. I don't care for Spongebob so guess what... My kids don't watch it. I am a fan of icarly myself (the kids used to watch it and I got hooked...LOL). My kids actually don't care for the show anymore so I just keep up with it online. I have actually gotten a lot of flack from other parents because I let them watch things like Harry Potter and the twilight saga but they will see worse things on the news than they see in those movies. We parents need to remember whose responsibility it is to teach our kids. It's not the TVs responsibility! It is the parents!!!

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