Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with eye trauma who apply to the emergency service

In this study, we aimed to examine the first clinical findings of ocular trauma patients who applied to the emergency department and the complications that may develop during their follow-up. The eyes of 802 patients who were admitted to the emergency department of our hospital with the complaint of eye injury were evaluated. The patients were examined in terms of age, gender, cause of trauma, type of trauma, first clinical findings, complications, whether there was a multitrauma, initial and final visual acuity, first and last eye pressure, and treatment method. Statistical evaluations were made using the chi-square test. 522 (65.1%) of our cases were male and 280 (34.9%) were female (p <0.05). 543 (67.7%) of the cases were under 18 years of age. There were only 14 (1.75%) cases over the age of 65 years. The distribution of gender among age groups was found to be statistically significant. Men aged 3-6 and 19-45 years were the most affected by the trauma. When the causes of trauma were evaluated, "other" took the first place with 443 cases (55.2%), followed by games with 177 cases (22.1%) and occupational accidents with 60 cases (7.5%). Subconjuncval hemorrhage / hyperemia took the first place among the diagnoses with 341 (42.5%) cases, followed by corneal laceration / epithelial erosions with 273 (34%) cases. The number of cases with perforating injuries was 137 (17.1%). The most common form of trauma was blunt 547 (68.2%) injuries. In our region, we found that eye trauma is more common in males than females and in children than adults. In addition, we concluded that children aged 3-6 years and 19-45 years carry a high risk of eye trauma. By taking the necessary precautions and training to be given to parents and workers in the society, possible disabilities, health costs and loss of workforce can be reduced.