Factors Affecting Prognosis of Open Globe Injuries in Assiut University Hospitals

Open globe injury (OGI) is defined as a full-thickness wound of the eyewall. Its global incidence rate is 3.5 per 100,000 persons per year , but the rates vary between countries and populations depending on the socio-economic status, education, and lifestyle. These injuries result in poor visual outcome and cause severe ocular morbidity and blindness. Unexpected and sudden occurrence of the injury may cause a psychosocial problem, permanent changes in quality of life, career and plans of the sufferers. These problems also affect not only the patients, but also all their family members.

Despite the improvement in instrumentation and ocular surgery techniques, and increased awareness of occupational safety, OGI patients still exhibit poor visual prognosis. And sometimes, they can not perceive the seriousness of the injury. Therefore, the estimation of visual prognosis is very beneficial in managing the expectation of patients and establishing a treatment strategy. Many factors, such as the type of injury, mechanism of injury, the location of the wound, and posterior segment involvement, have been suggested to influence the visual prognosis in OGI.

Ocular penetrating and perforating injuries (commonly referred to as open globe injuries) can result in severe vision loss or loss of the eye. Penetrating injuries by definition penetrate into the eye but not through and through--there is no exit wound. Perforating injuries have both entrance and exit wounds. Typically, to constitute one of these injuries, a full-thickness rupture of the cornea and/or sclera must be present. Open globe rupture, in contrast, refers to blunt injury of the eye causing globe collapse. This typically occurs at the limbus and near the equator behind the recti muscles insertions, where the sclera is thinnest.