Vision Centre

Perfect waves prove an eyesore
Gold Coast Bulletin , 27 September 2002
By Trevor Paddenburg

THE Gold Coast's world-famous surf is proving to be an eyesore for surfers, and not because of the endless peeling waves which stretch out of sight at Burleigh or Snapper Rocks. A survey by eye specialists has revealed three boardriders suffered permanent vision loss in surfing accidents on the Gold Coast in the past 12 months. Ten others needed surgery in hospital for eye-related injuries and, in half of the cases, the sharp, pointy nose of the surfboard jabbed into the victim's eye and caused the injury. The survey comes days after Japanese surfer Shinji Sekine, 24, was killed in surf at Byron Bay when he was struck on the head and then speared in the stomach by a surfboard. His parents, Takao and Miyako Sekine, traveled to Australia to honour Shinji at a tearful dawn ceremony at Byron on Wednesday.

Dr Roger Welch, an ophthalmologist and founder of the Gold Coast's Vision Centre, said the report was disturbing and warranted debate. He said options such as blunting the sharp noses of surfboards and wearing a helmet could be among precautions to reduce the risk of injury. "There's no doubt that surfing has a higher rate of sight loss than any other sport," said Dr Welch. "We're not talking just minor eye injuries here. These are very serious injuries in which three people lost total sight." Gold Coast Hospital eye registrar Dr Benjamin Fleming conducted the survey jointly with eye specialists Dr Peter Montgomery and Dr Welch. Association of Surfing Professionals chief Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew said inexperienced surfers in particular needed to take care. "Some beginners get out there and buy expensive high-performance boards instead of the safer foam boards, which is like putting a beginner driver in a Formula One car," he said. One initiative by surfing instructors is to use soft foam boards for surfing lessons. David Payne, director of the Burleigh-based Paramount Adventure Centre, which is home to one of the Gold Coast's largest surf schools, said the foam boards were the ideal solution to reducing injuries.