Citation

Mackiewicz J, Machowicz-Matejko E, Salaga-Pylak M, Piecyk-Sidor M, Zagórski Z. Ann. Agric. Environ. Med. 2005; 12(1): 27-29.

Affiliation

1st Eye Hospital, Chmielna 1, 20-079 Lublin, Poland. jmack@panaceum.am.lublin.pl.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Institute of Agricultural Medicine of Poland)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16028862

Abstract

Purpose: To establish the aetiology and visual outcome after penetrating eye injures in rural environments. Materials and Methods: The records of 182 patients (184 eyes) with penetrating eye injuries treated in the 1 st Eye Hospital, Lublin, Poland, between 1994 and 2002, were reviewed. Twenty eight of the 184 eyes (15.6 %) were work-related agriculture penetrating eye injuries. Distribution by age, sex, season variation, cause of injury, place of entrance wound, visual acuity and late complications were estimated. Results: Of the group of 28 patients, 24 (85.7 %) were male and 4 (14.3 %) female, with the age range between 11-76 (mean 48.2) years. Most injuries were a result of repair and maintenance work in 35.7 %, wood chopping in 25 %, machine use in 17.9 %, simple instruments use in 10.7 %, fall from one level to another in 7.1 %, and cow butting with a horn in 3.6 %. Eighteen eyes (64 %) were blind with visual acuity less than 0.05 at their most recent review. Conclusions: Our study has shown that perforating ocular injuries in rural environment are still a big therapeutic, social and economic problem.