Functional outcomes of penetrating eye injuries in children

Abstract

To assess visual acuity (VA) in the outcome of a penetrating wound of the eyeball in children. The study retrospectively analyzed VA in the outcome of type B open trauma of scleral (12.1%), corneal (59.1%), and scleral-corneal (28.8%) localization in 132 children (132 eyes) older than 4 years (mean age 8.3 years), who were admitted to the hospital on the first day after injury. The exclusion criteria from the main selection were: the presence of an intraocular foreign body, the age of patient higher than 4 years old, and the time of admission more than 24 hours post the moment of injury. Visual acuity was checked at the time of discharge from the hospital (average stay was 19.02 days) and amounted to 0-light projection in 50 (37.9%) children; 0.01-0.1 in 43 (32.6%); 0.2-0.3 in 29 (22.0%); above 0.4 in 10 (7.6%). High rate of vascular reactions to trauma was noted on admission on the first day - intraocular hemorrhage (28.8%), hyphema (10.6%), endophthalmitis (5.3%) as a result of a penetrating injury to the eyeball - as well as their negative effect on vision at discharge. Upon discharge from the hospital, in 92.4% of children the visual acuity in the outcome was 0.3 and below. Adverse visual outcomes significantly correlated with the depth of the injury (correlation coefficient 0.5931) and vascular reactions to trauma (correlation coefficient 0.503333).