Purpose: To review the epidemiology of penetrating eye injuries and ruptured globes presenting to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, South Australia.
Methods: A retrospective case review over a 4-year period.
Results: There were 109 penetrated or ruptured globes in 105 patients. The average age was 41 years and 80.2% were men. Over half were from rural areas. The commonest cause of injury was hammering metal followed by motor vehicle accidents. Falls in the elderly were the commenest cause of globe ruptures. A final visual acuity of 6/12 or better was found in 40% of eyes and no perception of light in 27%.
Conclusions: At the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the predominant referral centre for serious ocular injury in South Australia, approximately 25 open globe injuries are encountered a year. Although the epidemiology of these injuries was found to be similar to those previously reported in Victoria and rural New South Wales, differences were thought to reflect to the ageing population of South Australia. Rupture of an old, healed large-incision cataract extraction wound was the commonest cause of ruptured globe. An effective preventive strategy to reduce the incidence of severe ocular trauma has yet to be implemented. The concept of a national population-based severe ocular trauma database is considered.