Eye injury (ocular trauma) in southern Turkey: epidemiology, ocular survival, and visual outcome

Purpose To evaluate the epidemiology and outcome of ocular trauma in southern Turkey. Methods Patients referred to the University of Çukurova, School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, with ocular trauma during the last two years were reviewed retrospectively. Age and gender of patients, type of injury, cause of injury, place where injury occurred, initial and final visual acuities, and final outcome were analyzed. Results Medical records of 250 patients (four bilateral injuries), aged between three months and ninety years were reviewed. Ocular trauma mostly occurred between 0 and 15 years and a male preponderance (76.8%) was evident. There were 72% open-globe injuries, corneal and/or scleral penetration being the most common injury type. Metallic objects were the main cause of injury (32.4%). Fifty percent of injuries happened in streets. Closed-globe and self-sealing corneal injuries were found to have the best prognosis in terms of final outcome (57.6% and 57.9%, respectively; P < 0.001 for both). Initial visual acuity was found to be a significant predictor of final visual acuity (P < 0.001). Endophthalmitis was significantly associated with metallic objects (P < 0.005). Conclusion Eye injury is still a common and avoidable cause of blindness. Our findings suggest that any person in the population can be subject to ocular trauma at any time. Prognosis might be challenging. Education, attention, and safety precautions would help in reducing ocular morbidity.