Abstract
Purpose :
To present the causes, type of ocular injuries and presenting vision before and best corrected vision (BCVA) after management of paediatric ocular trauma cases seen in Emergency Room at a tertiary eye hospital in Saudi Arabia and to establish ways of prevention.
Methods :
Retrospective review of 14 years health records on ocular trauma in patients less than 15 years old who presented at King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital (KKESH) from 1989 to 2013. Data were collected on demographics, cause of trauma and visual acuity at presentation. The Birmingham Eye Trauma Terminology was used to document injuries. Duration of follow up and BCVA at last follow up were compared among open and closed eye injury groups.
Results :
Of the 1003 cases of paediatric ocular trauma, 728 (72.6%) were open globe and 275 (24.4%) were closed globe injuries. The leading causes of trauma were unsafe playing (n=394; 39.3%), unsafe home environment (n=158; 15.8%) and injury by metallic objects (n=166; 16.6%). Gunshot caused ocular trauma in 62 eyes. Vision was <20/400 in 292 (40.1%) eyes with open globe and 110 (40%) eyes with closed globe injuries (p=0.4). At a median follow up of 13.3 months, BCVA was 20/20 to 20/200 in 393 (53%) of eyes with open globe injuries and 137 (49.8%) of eyes with closed globe injuries (p=0.03).
Conclusions :
Ocular trauma is a common cause of visual impairment in children. Saudi children are at risk of losing vision despite high quality management. Visual outcomes can be improved by preventive actions e.g. health promotion at home, school and safe environment for children to play.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.