Open Globe Injury: Demographic and Clinical Features

Open globe injuries (OGIs) are the main cause of visual impairment worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical features and the visual outcome of OGIs presented to the largest Teaching Hospital in Western part of Turkey.

The study included patients presented with OGI between Jan 2009 and Dec 2013. Data including patient demographics, causes of injury, visual acuity (VA) at presentation, and final VA were collected. Ocular Trauma Scores (OTS) were calculated. Statistical analyses were performed to identify prognostic factors.

One hundred fifty-nine eyes of 156 patients with OGIs were included. The mean age was 36.89 ± 20.07 years. Significant male predominance was noted (77.6%). Domestic (28.3%) and work-related (22%) accidents were the most common causes of all OGIs. While some improvement in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) after treatment has been noted in 68 eyes (55.7%), the final BCVA was equal to or worse than the initial BCVA in 54 eyes (44.3%). According to the OTS and final BCVA associations in our study, while the eyes with OGI included in OTS category 1 and 2 (n = 84) consist of 68.8% of all the OGI cases, 48.8% (n = 41) of them were classified as having a poor visual outcome. All of the eyes in OTS category 3 and 4 cases (n = 38) (31.2% of all the OGI cases) showed good visual outcome.

Some clinical features may have a potential to correctly predict final visual outcomes. Although the OTS has not been fully validated yet, it could potentially be one of the best indicators available for the prognosis in OGI.