Clinical presentations and surgical outcomes of intraocular foreign body presenting to an ocular trauma unit.

OBJECTIVES: To describe, evaluate, and identify the characteristics, prognostic factors, and visual outcomes in patients with intraocular foreign body (IOFB) in a Latin American population. METHODS: A retrospective, observational case-series of patients with a diagnosis of IOFB. Variables analyzed included age, gender, initial and final best correct visual acuity (BCVA), ocular trauma score, intraocular pressure, mechanism of injury, material and number of IOFB, zone of injury, timing of primary repair and IOFB removal, complications, and follow up. RESULTS: Sixty-one patients with IOFB were identified of which 97% were male with a mean age of 37.9 years (SD 2.16). The most common IOFB location was intravitreal (43%). IOFBs were metallic in 78%, vegetal in 3%, and other materials in 11%. Primary repair and secondary IOFB removal were performed at a mean timepoint of 3 days and 5 days, respectively. Systemic and topical antibiotics were administered to all patients. The initial BCVA was 1.62 logMAR and the final was 0.6 logMAR, which was statistically significant (Pearson's chi-squared test, p value 0.01). No cases of endophthalmitis were seen. CONCLUSION: IOFB removal can be delayed when there are no signs of infection or evidence of retinal detachment, without an increased risk of endophthalmitis and a negative impact on visual outcomes. Use of topical and systemic antibiotics appear sufficient to prevent endophthalmitis in these cases.

Clinical, histopathological, and genetic aspects in one case of ligneous conjunctivitis.

Ligneous conjunctivitis is an uncommon and recurrent type of chronic conjunctivitis. A prevalent cause of this disease is a Plasminogen deficiency, resulting from recessive mutations in the human encoding plasminogen (PLG) gene. This deficiency affects the conjunctiva and also other mucous membranes. Only few hundred cases have been reported in the literature. Here we report a case of a 9-year-old boy with diagnosis of ligneous conjunctivitis. Histopathological examination in hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and sequencing of PLG gene were performed to confirm diagnosis. Histopathological findings confirmed the diagnosis of ligneous conjunctivitis. The patient is compound heterozygous for c.1026T>G (p.Val342Gly) and c.2384G>C (p.Arg795Pro) mutations in PLG gene. Both mutations have not been described previously, and the bioinformatic analysis strongly suggests that are causative of the disease. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of a Chilean patient with ligneous conjunctivitis.