Background: Ocular trauma is the cause of every third enucleation. Blunt injuries belong to the most frequent causes. We analysed blunt ocular injuries to collect detailed epidemiological data.
Patients and methods: Retrospective analysis of 417 inpatients of the university-eye-hospital Erlangen from 1985-1995 with ocular contusion or globe rupture (EOCR - Erlangen Ocular Contusion-Registry).
Results: One third of the injuries occurred during work time, more than 40 % during leisure time. 85 % of the patients were male. One half was 10 to 29 years old. Visual impairment of less than 20/200 was more frequently associated with severe damage of intraocular structures: 53 times more ruptures of the globe, 33 times more lens luxation, 17 times more retinal detachment. Visual acuity was lower following traumas due to fall and grinding. Visual impairment was rarely induced by large objects like soccer balls. Morphological findings included: hyphema (73 %), rebleeding (4 %), angle recession (71 %), iris sphincter tears (20 %), iridodialysis (10 %), cyclodialysis (3,4 %), traumatic aniridia (1 %), lens dislocation (15 %), traumatic cataract (10 %), choroidal rupture (7 %), retinal tear or detachment (7 %), Berlin's edema (35,5 %), globe rupture (4,6 %), blow-out-fracture (8,3 %). Vitreal prolapse (7,5 %) was often associated with vitreal hemorrhage (57 %), hyphema (86 %), globe rupture (20 %), iris sphincter tear (44 %), iridodialysis or cyclodialysis (43 %), traumatic cataract (41 %), lens dislocation (93 %) and retinal tear or detachment (29 %).
Conclusions: Blunt ocular injuries frequently induce severe ocular damage. Only consequent attention to industrial safety act, general preference given to rounded edges and the urgent information about safety eyeware for hobbyists may reduce the number of ocular injuries with permanent morphological and functional damage.