Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to examine the pattern of eye trauma requiring surgery in an academic medical center in the Bronx.
Methods:
We examined the Montefiore Medical Center Ophthalmology operating room (OR) logbook during the period of 1/1/05-10/31/09 and noted all cases of eye trauma requiring emergency surgery.
Results:
A total of 26 patients were included in the analysis, 18 men and 8 women. There was a wide age range of patients, 6 months to 91 years, and this was the same for both men and women. The racial background of our patients reflects the Bronx population in that the majority of patients are African American and Hispanic. Most injuries involved an open globe, though there were orbital fractures, lid lacerations, total hyphemas with uncontrolled IOP, and one case of a foreign body (BB pellet) as well. In most cases, the injuries were related to some type of accident. The second largest group of injuries was related to falls. In this group, patients were either elderly (>65 yrs old) or toddlers (3 yrs old). The majority of falls were in elderly patients (7 of 9 falls).
Conclusions:
Eye trauma affects all age groups, but disproportionately affects men. Some cases provided an opportunity for educating patients about adequate eye protection, especially work accidents and home repair projects. Two toddlers in the analysis were hurt at home due to falls onto furniture, emphasizing the importance of child safety precautions at home. The large number of falls in the elderly highlights the importance of fall prevention education. A potential problem with this study is that we may have missed cases due to lack of residents logging a procedure. A future project may include use of actual OR records of Ophthalmology cases. We can also include data from the city hospital where our residents work in a future study.