Etiology of pediatric perforating eye injuries in southern Turkey

In the present study, the records of 242 children, aged 1-14 years, admitted with perforating ocular injury were reviewed retrospectively over a 5-year period. There were 175 boys and 67 girls in the study group. The patients were divided into 3 groups according to their ages. Perforating injuries occurred most frequently in the street in all groups. The second most common place of the injury was at home in the 1-9 year-olds and in the fields in the 10-14 year-olds. The cause of the perforation was a metallic substance in 32.6%, wood in 15.3%, stone in 12.0%, glass in 12.3%, pellets in 12%, and injection needles in 8.3%. Most of the perforations occurred during unsupervised play, while all perforations with glass occurred during traffic accidents. Surgery was performed in 234 patients, while 8 patients in whom spontaneous closure had already occurred during admission received only medical treatment. In 28.9% the visual acuity was undetermined, in 25.7% the visual acuity was 0.1 or more, in 22.7% the visual acuity was between 0.06 and light perception, and in 22.7% there was no light perception on final evaluation. It is emphasized that educative and legislative measures such as informing the parents, teachers and children about the causative factors and potential hazards of perforating ocular injuries and restricting the availability of dangerous items to children, should be taken into consideration in order to prevent perforating ocular injuries in children.