Mechanical injuries of the eye: Incidence, structure and possibilities for prevention
Authors: Jovanovic Milos , Stefanovic Ivan 
Published: December 2010

Background/Aim. Despite technological advances used in everyday clinical
practice, injuries of the eye caused by various agents still produce
blindness and poor vision in a significant number of people. The aim of this
study was to analyze factors leading to occurrence of mechanical injuries of
the eye. Methods. Mechanic injuries of the eye in patients treated at the
Institute for Eye Diseases of the Clinical Center of Serbia in Belgrade, in
an eight-year period were analyzed. Investigated parameters were: sex and age
of patients, their profession, time of injury (months, days and hours), place
and way of injury and a visual acuity on admission and dismiss, as well as
further follow-up. Type of injury (closed or opened injuries of the eyeball),
with all the complications that followed were carefully noted and monitored.
The time of primary surgical repair was noted and analyzed, whenever
necessary. Results. In the period of eight years, 2701 patients (2 257 males
and 444 females) were treated in the hospital due to mechanical injury of the
eye. Almost equally, both the right (50.5%) and the left eye (49.5%) were
injured, while in 39 (1.4%) patients both eyes were injured at the same time.
The injuries occurred in all age groups, but mostly in adults, employed
persons, aged from 16 to 65 (70%). Among injured children, 18.8% were beyond
the age of 15. Most frequent injuries occurred in workers (39%), and then in
pupils (16.3%). Wood was the mean of injury in 23.7% of cases, sharp and
pointed objects in 16.1%, hammering and metal particles in 14.4%, glass in
10.1%, and other different objects in the rest of 35.7% of all injured
persons. There were other very serious means or mechanisms of eye injuries,
like hair band, dog bite, rooster?s beak, rubber bullet, etc. Considering
months in the year and days in the week, the injuries were almost equally
distributed, and related to the time of day even 75% occurred between 10 a.m.
and 10 p.m. Most injuries (38.2%) occurred while doing some work out of
professional working place, while only 25.4% injuries occurred at the working
place. Most of the patients (30.3%) had visual acuity L+P+ (light perception
with correct projection) only, on attendance, but it varied from complete
blindness to 1.0. There were 1 282 blunt injuries (contusion) (47.5%) and 1
373 penetrating eyeball injuries (50.8%), while the rest (1.7%) were injuries
of ocular adnexa. Most of the primary surgical treatments (63.7%) were done
in the first 24 hours from the moment of the injury. At dismiss, visual
acuity was normal in 53.2%, the eye was blind in 19.1% injured patients.
Conclusion. The results of this study showed that the injuries occurred most
frequently in actively working people and pupils, that men were injured five
times more often than women; that wood, sharp objects and glass were the most
common means, that there was an equal number of blunt injuries and
penetrating wounds, and that it was very important to treat injury promptly,
preferably within the first 24 hours. By further analysis, it might be
concluded that many injuries could have been prevented, avoiding long medical
treatment and accompanying costs, and what is most important - permanent
invalidity caused by reduced visual function or blindness of the injured eye
is avoidable.