Shot gun eye injuries: Senegalese experience

Abstract

Purpose: To describe the cases of eye trauma caused by the use of home-made firearms and to highlight the difficulties of their management. Observations: We admitted five patients (0.16%) with firearm-related eye injuries during the period from January 01, 2010 to January 01, 2022. All our patients were male. The average age was 33.2 years with extremes between 21 and 55 years. The circumstances of occurrence were dominated by attacks with lead as the main traumatic agent in all our patients. The consultation time ranged from one week to three months with a starting visual acuity not exceeding the light perception. The lesions were bilateral in three patients. There was a loss of eyeball function in all patients. Intraocular foreign bodies were found in 80% of cases. All our patients received medical treatment. Two of our patients had received surgical treatment such as extra capsular extraction and anterior vitrectomy. Discussion and conclusion: Shot-gun eye injuries have increased in recent years. Facial screening makes all the severity of these traumas involving the functional prognosis of the eye. Young people in full employment are mainly affected, hence the importance of prevention. Keywords: Eye; Shot weapons; Trauma; Prognosis; Prevention.