Abstract

Ocular injury is a major health problem in India, blunt trauma being one of the important causes of ocular morbidity and blindness. Children at play, young men at work, in factories and construction sites, road side falls, high speed travel and Road Traffic Accident, sport injuries, fall on projecting blunt objects and in a rural setup like ours agriculture-based injuries are the causes of minor and severe blunt injuries. Materials and Methods: It is a prospective, interventional study. 200 cases of blunt trauma presented at Department of Ophthalmology, Govt Medical College, Baramulla from January 2021 to December 2021 were prospectively studied. Visual acuity was recorded on Snellen’s chart, direct ophthalmoscopy, indirect ophthalmoscopy, slit-lamp examination were done. Relevant investigations were carried out such as X-ray orbit, fluorescein staining, lacrimal probing, syringing, gonioscopy, B-scan ultrasonography, CT scan and MRI scan in selected patients. Results: In this study consisting of 200 cases, the age range was from 3 months old child to 80 years old woman. Incidence of ocular injuries were found to be highest in the younger age group and children of 16 to 35 years (51%). Maximum cases were below the age group of 35 years. It has been observed that children and young adults are more prone to injuries, this may be due to more exposure to risk of blunt injuries, exposure and lack of awareness, regarding injuries among children. Conclusion: Our study indicates that ocular lesions with blunt injuries are fairly common. In our study, occupational injuries mainly agriculture related as the cases are from Baramulla. The ocular trauma is associated with varying degrees of loss of vision and earning capacity with social and economic consequences. Early referral, prompt evaluation and treatment will reduce the sight threatening complications in these cases.

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