Eye injuries in children in Israel. A nationwide collaborative study
I. Rapoport, M. Romem, M. Kinek, R. Koval, J. Teller, M. Belkin, N. Yelin, L. Yanco and H. Savir
Department of Ophthalmology, Edith Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel.
A nationwide prospective collaborative study on ocular trauma was performed
in Israel during a period of 3 years (1981 through 1983). Almost half of
the traumas (1127 [47%] of 2416 eyes) were sustained by children younger
than age 17 years, and mainly between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Most of
the injuries happened at home (38.1%) or in the street (26.8%) and during
play and sport (65.1%). The male-to-female ratio among the children was
4:1. Blunt injuries accounted for 59.2%; 30.5% were perforating injuries
and the rest were chemical and radiation injuries. The visual acuity at the
time of hospital discharge was better than 6/30 in the majority of the eyes
but 122 patients (11%) had a visual acuity of less than 6/60, and no light
perception was the result in 40 eyes (3%). The reasons for the severe
outcome were as follows: 23 eyes (2%) owing to phthisis, 22 eyes (1.9%)
were enucleated, and 16 eyes (1.4%) suffered from endophthalmitis.
