Abstract:

Objectives:Epidemiological evaluation of cases presenting with open globe trauma in the Somali population. Patients and Methods: Medical records and demographic data of patients with open globe injuries who applied to the emergency department or eye clinic were retrospectively reviewed.At the time of admission and final visual acuity levels of the patients were evaluated with Snellen visual acuity chart, zones and types of injuries were evaluated and recorded according to Birmingham Eye Trauma and Terminology System. Results: In the study 84 eyes of 84 cases were included.73 (86.9%) of the patients were male and 11 (13.1%) were female.The mean age was 29.2 ± 18.3 (2 - 85 years)of all patients.The mean age was 29.5 ± 17.6 years for males and 27.7 ± 23.2 years for females.In 41 (48.8%) patients the right eye was affected and in 43 (51.2%) patients the left eye was affected.The most frequent injuries were in the 20-30 age group and 0-10 age group.In 68.1% of the patients, the injury was penetrating and 31.9% were blunt trauma. 41.7% of the injuries occurred in the work-area, 36.9% in the street and 21.4% in the home.The proportion of patients with relative afferent pupil defect (RAPD) at the time of admission was 20.2%.When the patients were evaluated in terms of anatomical location of perforation, 60 patients (71.4%) had Zone I injury, 12 patients (14.3%) had Zone II injury and 12 patients had Zone III injury. Conclusion:The high percentage of patients with visual impairment due to open eye injury reveals the magnitude and complexity of this problem.Theevidences Show that increased risk of eye trauma, especially for children and young population groups. This suggests that there should be studies to prevent globe injury in these risk groups.

Keywords: