Clinical characteristics and outcomes of ocular injuries in pediatric patients

BACKGROUND: Childhood eye injuries are one of the most common causes of acquired unilateral blindness. In this study, our purpose was to investigate the demographics, etiology, and outcome of pediatric patients with ocular injury. METHODS: The charts of children with ocular trauma who presented to Baskent University Hospitals, between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients who were under 16 years of age were included. Data were collected on age, sex, time of trauma, injury type, associated injuries, treatments, visual impairment, intraocular pressure (IOP), and ophthalmic sequelae. Ocular traumas were classified according to the Birmingham Eye Trauma Terminology (BETT) system. RESULTS: A total of 21 patients were identified. Male-female ratio was 13/8. The mean age of the patients was 8.5±3.4 years. Mean post-treatment follow-up was 8.2±4.3 months. Injury was unilateral in all cases (10 right eye, 11 left eye). Fifteen patients (71.4%) had open globe, and 6 (28.5%) had closed globe injury. Type of injury was rupture in 7 cases, perforation in 5, penetration in 4, and intraocular foreign body in 4. A total of 5 cases were documented to have retinal detachment during the follow-up. Sharp injuries were documented in 11 (64.7%) cases, and blunt in 6 (35.2%). The most frequent finding was hyphema in blunt injury, and corneal laceration in perforating injury. Five patients had choroidal hemorrhage, 3 had commotio retinae, 2 had intravitreal hemorrhage, 1 had subhyaloidal hemorrhage, 1 had macular hole, and 1 had optic nerve avulsion. Lens aspiration was performed in 12 (57.1%) cases, and 2 of them had intraocular lens implantation. In children whose initial vision was able to be taken, 4 had no light perception, 7 had light perception-counting fingers, and 5 had best-corrected visual acuity of 0.05–0.3. At final visit, 61.9% of patients had a VA of 0.05–0.8. Corneal scar or leucoma was observed in 14 (66.6%) cases at last visit. One eye was enucleated due to post-traumatic endophthalmitis that did not respond to treatment. At final visit, IOP <6 mmHg was identified in 2 cases and >21 mmHg in 4. CONCLUSION: Anterior segment damage is the main cause of visual morbidity in pediatric ocular trauma. Injuries with sharp objects occur twice as often as blunt trauma and reduce vision with residual corneal scarring in about two-thirds of patients. Understanding the pattern of eye injuries is useful in determining the strategies required to protect children’s eye health.