Abstract
Purpose: :
assessment of frequency, causes and functional outcomes of eye injuries among Egyptians in an attempt to design a preventive program
Methods: :
A retrospective cross sectional statsitcal study of collected data from files of all admitted cases in ophthalmology department , Kasr EL Aini medical school hospital during the period from January to December 2006. Demographics, injury circumstances, site of injury , foreign bodies presence as well as management and visual outcome were analyzed.
Results: :
Nine hundred and ten cases were admitted with a male to female ratio 4:1. sixty five percen were in age group from 1-20 year .Young school children were commonly involved 36%. Patients came form 2 governorates ( Cairo and Giza) out of 28 all over Egypt presenting 51.2% while the rest came from remaining 26. Accidental causes represented 92.3% and domestic incidents were the commonest 39.3% followed by street (play, wedding celebration or pedstrain) 32.4% then work site trauma (20%). Blunt objects trauma constituted 63.6% of the trauma causes, followed by sharp objects 28.7% while chemical injuries constituted the least 0.7%. Foreign body trauma constituted 12.6% of which 8.4% were intraocular. Open globe injuries constituted 55.2% in comparison to 44.8% to intact globe injuries. Corneal injuries were the commonest (27.4%) followed by corneoscleral (19.8%). Traumatic cataract was detected on admission in 16.2% of patients. Most of patients (82.6%) needed urgent surgical intervention while 11.4% required medical treatment. Good vision or visual potential was present in 6.ood vision or visual potential was present in 67.4% while 32.5% of patients became blind with permanent disability.
Conclusions: :
In the developing world, there is a desparate need for systematic evaluation of risk factors for eye injuries. Compulsory regulation of protective eye wears as well as work safety measurements should be applied to reduce occupational eye injuries. Special attention should be directed to young school children as they are prone to injuries by variable objects. Lack of public awarenss increases the exposure of such children to injuries with drastic functional, psychological and social sequalae
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: prevalence/incidence • trauma • vision and action