Posttraumatic glaucoma in southern China: A ten-year retrospective study

To analyze posttraumatic glaucoma regarding its demographics, presentations, different causes, surgical modalities, and hospitalization burden among patients in southern China.

This retrospective study investigated all individuals with posttraumatic glaucoma admitted to the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center of Sun Yat-Sen University from January 2012 through December 2021.

Out of 2211 cases, 64.82% had closed globe injury (CGI), 28.22% had open globe injury (OGI), and 6.96% had chemical injury (CI). The mean age of all patients was 44.45 ± 19.45 years old. Males (83.36%), rural patients (56.17%), and farmers (27.14%) predominantly had posttraumatic glaucoma. The most common external injury mechanism was blunt objects (37.82%). Compared with the other two groups, the majority of surgical modalities were cataract extraction (27.12%) in the CGI group, combined anterior-posterior surgery (34.79%) in the OGI group, and cyclocryotherapy/cyclophotoagulation (49.1%) in the CI group. The CI group had higher times of hospitalization (3.542 ± 0.242) and hospitalization duration (8.373 ± 0.743 days), whereas the OGI group had more operation expense ($ 1476.729 ± 11.047) and medical consumables expense per head ($ 962.578 ± 25.801).

Blunt injury, males, adults, farmers, and rural patients were high-risk factors for posttraumatic glaucoma. Chemical-induced glaucoma management requires a longer hospitalization period, while OGI requires more medical expenditure. This knowledge provides a new reference for clinicians to accurately diagnose and intervene in posttraumatic glaucoma. It also suggests that more education and long-term surveillance are needed regarding the presence of glaucoma after ocular trauma.