Ocular Injuries – A Leading Cause of Preventable Blindness

Abstract

Introduction: Ocular injures are very common and are of great variety and complexity. Besides structural and functional loss they have social, occupational and medico-legal implications. Ocular injury is an important preventable cause of ocular morbidity and blindness. Objectives: The objective of this study was to analyze the epidemiological profile of patients with ocular trauma. Material and Methods: This prospective study comprised patients presenting with ocular trauma at out-door, indoor and casualty at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh from November 2007 to December 2008. An epidemiological study was performed on ocular injuries utilizing hospital eye services. It is direct culmination of MD Thesis of the first author. Results: It was found that injury was more common in urban area, males were more involved as compared to females, the left eye was more commonly affected than the right eye, most of the cases reported to the hospital within two days, in majority of the cases the cause was domestic injury, most of the injuries were due to blunt trauma and most of them were accidental in nature. Open globe injuries were more commonly associated with retinal detachments. Injury to lense capsule and delayed repair was associated with endophthalmitis. Conclusion: Prevention of blindness from eye injuries requires injury prevention, early presentation by the patient, accurate assessment and prompt referral.