Profile of ocular trauma among patients in and around Kolar attending a tertiary care hospital

Purpose: 1) To analyze the clinical pattern - type of trauma, risk factors, circumstances, time gap between injury and presentation. 2) To assess the final visual outcomes Methods: A total 250 patients of all age group with ocular trauma were included in the study. All patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria underwent ocular examination after taking informed consent. In all cases a detailed demographic history was taken including address their literacy status, occupation and financial status, cause of injury, and nature of circumstance. The ocular examination including visual acuity, slit lamp examination, a dilated fundus examination with direct ophthalmoscope and indirect examination with 90D lens was carried out. Cases had undergone a B scan to evaluate posterior segment. An Intra ocular tension was measured in all patients. Results: Age –wise analysis showed that ¼ th (24.4%) of patients were in age group between 21-30 years and males outnumbered females by ratio of 3.6:1. RE was involved (48%), 117 cases LE was involved (46.8%). Both eyes were involved in 13 cases(5.2%).It was observed that highest incidence of blunt injuries was among students 91(36.4%) followed by business 38(15.2%) and manual labour 22 (8.8%) industrialist 16 (6.4%). Eyelid injuries are majority of the times associated with either closed or combined globe injuries hence accounting to 84.8% in present study. Conclusion: Road traffic accidents under the influence of alcohol was the most common cause of ocular trauma. Most common object causing ocular trauma was foreign body and stone. Visual acuity at time of presentation and final outcome varied significantly. These patients can be educated about safety measures to prevent ocular trauma and its consequences and to undergo treatment at the earliest to prevent permanent blindness.