Penetrating Ocular Injuries in Pediatric Age Group in a Rural Area of Western Maharashtra, India

Background: Ocular injuries comprise a group of disorders with a wide variation in clinical presentation, causes, and visual outcome. Penetrating injury is defined as a single full thickness laceration of the eyeball usually caused by a sharp object.Aims: The purpose of this study was to know the causes, clinical features, and visual outcome of various penetrating ocular injuries in the pediatric age group. Settings and Design: It was a hospital based longitudinal study.Subjects and Methods: In this hospital based longitudinal study, 50 consecutive patients in the pediatric age group (up to 14 years) presenting to the ophthalmic OPD or casualty with penetrating ocular injuries were studied during a periodof 2 years (August 1998–July 2000).Results: The present study showed the highest incidence (48%) of penetrating ocular injury in the age group of 6–10 years. Incidence of penetrating eye injury was found to be more in males (74%) as compared to females (26%). Wooden stick (34%) injuries are the most commonly observed penetrating eye injuries. Final visual outcome of more than 6/36 was seen in 79.31% of those patients in which only anterior segment was involved as against it was seen in only 23.08% of those in which posterior segment was involved. Conclusions: Penetrating ocular injuries are the most common cause of mono‑ocular preventable blindness in pediatric age group. The three most important factors determining the final visual outcome were size and site of injury, as well as the time interval, between the injury and the presentation.Keywords: Blindness, pediatric age group, penetrating injury, visual outcom