A Clinical Study of Ocular Injuries

ABSTRACT

1,072 cases of ocular injuries, including 271 cases of in-patients, who visited department of ophthalmology of Chungnam National University Hospital from January 1,1981 to December 31, 1985, were clinically analyzed. The results were as follows 1. The incidence of ocular injuries was 8.1% of all eye patients and 16.0% of all patients admitted to this ophthalmologic department. 2. The incidence was more common in male(82.0%) and in the age of 3rd to 4th decades(53.7%). 3. Monocular injuries accounted for 90.4% of ocular injuries. There was no significant difference in the incidence between the right and left eye. 4. Tho ocular injuries were more common in the spring(27.4%), but in children the incidence was higher during the vacation. 5. The patients who visited this hospital within 24 hours after injury accounted for 89.8%. 6. The most common cause of ocular injuries was fist or finger(15.9%), followed by iron products(12.6%) and traffic accident(10.9%), but the injuries by iron products(32.1%) were most common in the admitted patients. 7. The most common ocular injury was eyelid laceration (15.3%), followed by subconjunctival hemorrhage(12.5%) and conjunctival foreign body(8.6%). In the cases of in-patients, corneal laceration(21.2%) was most common, followed by corneoscleral laceration(14.9%) and lens perforation(10.2%). The corneal perforation was 52.1% of all perforating eye injuries. 8. Surgical procedure included corneal suture(21.1%), lensectomy(12.5%), enucleation or evisceration(11.2%), and others. 9. Visual acuity was improved in most cases by treatment, but the corrected vision after treatment was less than 0.1 in 33.2%, which was mainly due to the perforating eye injuries. 10. The most common complication of ocular injuries after treatment was corneal opacity(36.3%), followed by secondary glaucoma(14.6%) and traumatic cataract(6.4%).