For most people ringing in the New Year means celebrating with friends and family, champagne toasts and cheer, but if you get hit in the eye with a champagne cork, it may mean a trip to the emergency room.

“A cork can fly up to 50 miles per hour as it leaves the bottle,” says Tamara Fountain, MD, a clinical correspondent for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “Warm bottles of champagne and poor technique in removing the cork can result in serious, blinding eye injuries. Anything that travels with such momentum can have a devastating effect if it strikes your eye.” [Read more…]