Chitra Munusamy Rajendran1, Malarvizhi Raman2, Bhavya Sivakumar3
BACKGROUND Ocular trauma is one of the important cause of Blindness in children. Blindness in children has impact on the individual as well as the society. The Blindness due to childhood trauma is largely preventable. This study highlights about the various causes of ocular trauma and the damage caused by it in various ocular tissues and its management.
MATERIALS AND METHODS This is a prospective study for a period of 1 year; 50 paediatric patients of age less than 12 years reporting with ocular trauma to the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology- Government Ophthalmic Hospital were registered and evaluated with detailed history, vision, slit lamp examination and fundus examination. They were subjected to further investigations and management was carried out either by medical or surgical, according to the type of injury and the site of involvement. Vision acuity was assessed after treatment and during followup.
RESULTS In our study, 50 children in the age group of up to 12 years with ocular trauma were enrolled and evaluated. The age group of 10 to 12 formed the majority of the patients accounting for 42%, followed by 6 to 9 years accounting for 36%. About 46% of the patients, the major mode of injury was when handling stationeries and household articles. The main place of injury was residence accounting for 52%. Males were more commonly affected than females. Male accounted about 82%. The ratio was 4.55: 1 approximately. Both eyes were equally affected. Open globe injury was commoner than closed globe injury. Open globe injury was 60%. This might be because open globe injuries present to the hospital. 78% of patients presented to the hospital within a day of injury. Open globe injury patients presented earlier to the hospital than closed globe injury. Anterior segment trauma (64%) was commoner than other tissues. Visual acuity was drastically reduced in open globe injury than closed globe injury. The main mode of treatment was surgical (82%). Cataract was the commonest complication (14 patients).
CONCLUSION To conclude since most of the injuries occur in residence when handling stationeries and household articles, the monitoring of children by the parents or caregivers can prevent most of the injuries. The visual outcome will be better if timely intervention was done
