A student in his 20s wanted relief from a feeling of tiredness in his eyes. For about three months, roughly once a week, he held a high-frequency percussive massage gun on and around both eyes for several minutes at a time. When floaters and flashes of light sent him to an eye clinic in Edinburgh, Scotland, doctors found multiple retinal tears and retinal bruising in both eyes. His right eye also had a retinal dialysis, a tear in which the retina separates at its outer edge.
Ophthalmologists Niamh O'Connell and Ashraf Khan of the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion described the case in BMJ Case Reports on June 18, and one detail reaches beyond a single patient. The massage gun was bought commercially and used without professional guidance, and the patient said he was unaware of any warning against using it on the eyes. The authors called for clear manufacturer warnings against improper use.
What One Major Brand's Fine Print Already Says
Such warnings do exist, at least from Therabody, which makes Theragun massage guns. On its product precautions page, the company lists direct application to the face, head, throat, neck or genitalia among the contraindications for its Theragun devices. It describes contraindications as situations in which the risks may outweigh the benefits and users should consult a medical professional before use. For its Theragun Pro Plus and Prime Plus models, the list also includes direct pressure over the eyes.
The company also sells a facial device, the TheraFace Pro, that comes with percussive attachments. Its guidance for those attachments says not to apply them directly to the eyeball or eyelid.
The published accounts of the Edinburgh case do not make clear whether the student's device carried a similar warning that he overlooked or none at all.
Eye Doctors Keep Adding Cases to the Record
The student's injuries join a short but growing list. In a case report in the journal Medicine, doctors at West China Hospital of Sichuan University described a 69-year-old man who had used a massage gun around his right eye for two months to relieve headaches. He developed a partially dislocated lens and acute angle-closure glaucoma, a sudden and dangerous rise in eye pressure. Vision in that eye had fallen to counting fingers.
A report in the American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports described a 38-year-old woman who developed a traumatic cataract after using a massage gun for several weeks over her left temple and around the eye, including directly over it, to ease intractable headaches. Vision in that eye measured 20/600, and within two months the cataract had turned almost completely opaque.
In June, doctors at Zunyi Medical University in China reported in BMC Ophthalmology what they called the first documented case of both lenses dislocating forward, with secondary glaucoma, strongly associated with massage gun use. A 62-year-old man with type 2 diabetes and dry eyes pressed the device's ball-shaped head against his closed eyelids on a medium setting for about 10 minutes, two or three times a day, for about three days. Roughly a week after he stopped, his vision began to decline.
Pressure inside his eyes measured 51 and 49 mmHg, far above normal. Imaging showed that the fibers holding both lenses in place had given way completely, and pressure in his left eye climbed to 60 mmHg while he waited for surgery. After operations on both eyes, his corrected vision at 12 months was 20/20 in the right eye and about 20/25 in the left, with normal eye pressure.
The Chinese authors noted that commercial massage guns typically operate at 17 to 53 hertz, with each impact delivering about 0.53 to 0.98 foot-pounds of energy. Because the eyelid is the thinnest skin on the body, they wrote, that force reaches the eye with almost nothing to soften it. They also suggested his diabetes may have left the lens fibers more vulnerable, an idea they acknowledged was an extrapolation.
A Low-Risk Device Category Without Eye-Specific Standards
Under federal rules, an electrically powered therapeutic massager intended for medical purposes, such as relieving minor muscle aches and pains, is a Class I device, the lowest-risk category. It is generally exempt from FDA premarket notification, so it can reach the market without FDA clearance, although general controls still apply.
The Chinese team wrote that standardized safety guidelines for using these devices on vulnerable parts of the body are lacking, and it urged manufacturers to add explicit warnings against use around the eyes. Its paper also cited earlier reports linking massage guns used elsewhere on the body to vertebral artery dissection, positional vertigo and rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle tissue.
These are individual case reports. They show that serious injuries can follow misuse, but they cannot show how often that happens. Each team linked the injuries to the device based on timing and by ruling out other causes.
Warning Signs That Call for a Prompt Eye Exam
The Edinburgh patient's vision measured 6/6, the metric equivalent of 20/20, despite his torn retinas. Laser treatment sealed the damage, and the authors suggested his sight was preserved because he sought care soon after his symptoms began.
The National Eye Institute lists a sudden increase in floaters, flashes of light, and a shadow or curtain over the field of vision as symptoms of retinal detachment. It advises anyone with those symptoms to go to an eye doctor or emergency room right away.
The Chinese authors also urged clinicians to steer patients with dry eyes toward proper eye care rather than risky self-treatment. Their bottom line was simple: massage guns should not be applied to the eyelids or the area around the eyes.
Key Questions Answered
What happened to the student?
After using a massage gun on and around his eyes weekly for three months, he developed retinal tears and bruising in both eyes and a retinal dialysis in his right eye.
Do massage gun makers warn against use near the eyes?
Therabody lists direct application to the face and head as a contraindication for its Theragun devices. The Edinburgh patient said he was unaware of any warning.
What other eye injuries have been linked to massage guns?
Published case reports describe dislocated lenses, glaucoma, and traumatic cataract after use on or around the eyes.
Does the FDA review massage guns before they are sold?
Therapeutic massagers intended for minor muscle aches are Class I devices that are generally exempt from premarket notification.
How common are these injuries?
Unknown. Individual case reports cannot measure how often they occur.
What symptoms need urgent attention?
A sudden increase in floaters, flashes of light, or a shadow across your vision calls for an eye exam right away.
