Epidemiology of open-globe trauma in the southeast of Spain

To describe epidemiologic and clinical findings of open-globe trauma (OGT) in the southeast area of Spain.

A retrospective descriptive study of 94 eyes with OGT evaluated between 1999 and 2007, in a primary referral hospital.

The incidence of OGT in our area was 6.76 per 100,000 inhabitants/year. The majority of patients were male (89%) and young (80% of patients < 50 years old), with an average age of 37 +/- 20 years (mean +/- SD). The most common causes and location of injury were wire-induced trauma (50%) and accidents at work (56%), respectively. The types of injury encountered were ruptures, intraocular foreign bodies, perforating injury, penetrating injury, and mixed injury. Sixty-six percent of these injuries were penetrating in zone I (55%). The injuries found were vitreous hemorrhage (33%), cataracts (47%), vitreous prolapse (30%), retinal detachment (8%), endophthalmitis (2%), and associated with a facial trauma (7%). Eighty percent of surgery was carried out under general anesthesia. Fifty-one percent of the eyes underwent one operation only (5% were enucleated). Sixty-one percent of the eyes resulted in visual acuity of less than 50%.

The incidence of OGT in the southeast of Spain is very high, being in most cases produced by accidents while using wire in greenhouses. This provokes severe monocular visual loss among the young population.