Excluding the 12% patients in whom presenting visual acuity could not recorded, the initial visual acuity was NPL in 13% patient, PL to 6/60 in 62% patients, 6/36 or better in 13% patients. Final visual acuity was NPL in 15% patients, PL to 6/60 in 51% patient, 6/36 or better in 22% patients (Table 4). Among the 124 patients in whom both initial and final visual acuities were reliably recorded, there was a correlation between poor initial visual acuity and poor final visual acuity.

    Thirty nine percent of patients were treated with only corneal repair while 61% patients needed additional procedures such as ECCE + IOL most commonly, followed by intraª²vitreal antibiotics, vitrectomy and trabeculectomy. In 4% patients, injured eye was enucleated.

    DISCUSSION

    Many reports on ocular trauma in Ophthalmology Literature are available particularly concerning penetrating injuries, injuries in children, or adults and injuries characteristic of a particular environment. Most of these reports are published from the developed industrial nations[9]. Since many eye injuries are related to particular occupations and cultures, the type of injuries in developing countries are not necessarily similar, although the results of this study are similar in many respects to those of other studies.

    Our study of 124 patients of penetrating injuries shows that males are more often affected in all age groups. This is also reported by May DR et al[10]. The male to female ratio of six to one, is same as in previous studies[11ª²13]. In this study patient less then 20 years of age accounted for 74% of all injuries, which is the same as reported by other authors[14] emphasizing the vulnerability of younger age. This study shows a greater role of producing projectile and non projectile injuries by wooden sticks, stones, metallic and non metallic pipes, house hold items like knife, scissors, glass etc in Table 1Demographic data of penetrating ocular injuryn(%)

    Age (yr)MaleFemaleTotal<10471259(57.1)10ª²2029433(14.3)21ª²3012012(12.2)31ª²40303(2.0)41ª²5013114(10.2)51ª²60303(4.1) Total107(86.3)17(13.7)124(100)

    Table 2Mechanism and source of ocular injuryn(%)

    SourceNon projectile projectileTotalPlaying321143(34.7)Occupational571976(61.3) Assault0505(4.0) Total8935124 (100)

    Table 3 Causative agents

    Causative agentsn (%)Wooden stick3528.2Thorn2116.9Stone1310.5Scissor75.6Glass75.6Axe43.2Pallet43.2Lighter43.2Unknown21.6Iron scale54.0Spade43.2Needle 43.2Knife21.6Miscellaneous129.7Total124100

    Table 4 Initial and final visual acuityn(%)

    Visual acuityInitialFinal 6/6ª²6/129(7.3)10(8.1)6/18ª²6/367(5.6)17(13.7)6/60ª²3/605(4.0)26 (21.0)<3/60ª²PL+ve72(58.1)37(29.8)NPL16(12.9)19(15.3)Not recorded15(12.1)15(12.1)Total124(100)124(100)

    children¬ðs during playing and adults in their working circumstances like vegetative trauma in agriculture field and mechanical trauma in industrial labor. No any greater casual role for guns and motor vehicle collapse as in other studies[1] from developed nation.

    The prognosis of penetrating eye injuries is poor, and the more important factors of a poor outcome in this study is poor initial visual acuity and delayed presentation of the patient for treatment, these factors are also reported in other studies[15ª²18]. The severity of trauma is also among the prognostic factors used to predict the final visual outcome. Injuries associated with a wound 5mm or longer, combined anterior and posterior segment injuries[19], lens dislocation, vitreous hemorrhage, intraocular foreign bodies, scleral wounds were found to have a poor prognosis. More than 15% of patients in our study were left NPL or enuleated. Another 51% patients were left with visual acuity worse than 6/60. Only 8% patients has achieve 6/12 or better, which is quite worse then reported by others (Thompson et al, 61%[19]. Esmaeli et al, 50%[18]. Patel et al, 52.2%[20]). Important reasons for poor visual outcome in addition to earlier mentioned are also amblyopia, difficulties in follow up and examination for the child, because childrens are major component of our study.

    The data presented in this study regarding the circumstances surrounding ocular trauma and the factors associated with it demonstrate a clear need for primary prevention and control measure. School teachers and parental education should regard hazardous objects and playing dangerous activity. The use of protective eyeª²wears in both work related and recreational settings should continue to be a focus of preventive education. Along with the preventive measures, early diagnosis and prompt management are very crucial to preserve vision.

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