A Perforating Eye Injury Caused by a Staple Gun, Treated Successfully Without Vitrectomy

A 30-year-old carpenter accidentally impaled his own left eye with a 5 cm staple ejected from a pneumatic gun. Entering the globe off-axis, the stainless steel staple caused a vitreous hemorrhage. On the day of injury, the staple was removed surgically. The vitreous hemorrhage cleared rapidly enough to permit laser treatment around the equatorial retinal perforation site. Visual acuity improved to 6/9 and remained stable over a one-year period of careful follow-up. No retinal detachment developed. No additional intervention was required. While vitrectomy with or without a circular buckling remains the standard for perforations into the posterior segment, selected cases may be managed conservatively.