Traumatic eye injuries due to large unusual foreign bodies: a Singapore case series

• Published in: European journal of ophthalmology 2003-05, Vol.13 (4), p.398-402
• Main Authors: PAN, J. C. H, YAP, E. Y, YIP, C. C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Eye Enucleation; Eye Foreign Bodies - complications; Eye Foreign Bodies - diagnostic imaging; Eye Foreign Bodies - pathology; Eye Foreign Bodies - surgery; Eye Injuries - etiology; Eye Injuries - physiopathology; Eye Injuries - surgery; Eye, Artificial; Humans; Injuries of the orbit. Foreign bodies of the eye. Diseases due to physical agents; Male; Medical sciences; Orbit Evisceration; Orbital Diseases - surgery; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Traumas. Diseases due to physical agents; Tropical medicine; Visual Acuity
• ISSN: 1120-6721; 1724-6016
• DOI: 10.1177/112067210301300413

Traumatic eye injuries due to large foreign bodies (FB) are rare. The visual prognosis is often poor in these cases because of severe ocular damage. Staged surgical procedures with eventual enucleation or evisceration are often indicated. Case series. The authors describe two patients with eye injury due to large FB with visual acuity of no light perception at presentation. Both had initial repair of the ocular injuries and removal of the FB. One patient with an intraocular FB eventually underwent enucleation; the other, with intraorbital FB, had evisceration as a secondary procedure. Orbital implantations were done in both. Neither of the patients had developed sympathetic ophthalmia at the last review. The visual outcome of eye injuries due to large FB is poor. Both enucleation and evisceration can be performed with low risk of sympathetic ophthalmia. Prevention remains the best approach to such devastating injuries.