Epidemiologic Aspects of Penetrating Eye Trauma in Subjects Younger than Sixteen Years at Feiz Hospital in 2009

To report the characteristics of children referred to the emergency department of Feiz Medical Center with penetrating eye injuries. In a cross-sectional study, children with penetrating eye trauma were evaluated. Age, sex, parents educational level, time, location, and cause of trauma recorded and compared. Overall, 100 patients with mean age of 73.8 (range 2 to 16 years) including 69 male and 31 female were assessed. 57 eye injuries occurred at home, time of trauma was in the morning in 47% of patients. The most common cause of injury was knife (26%) and wood was the second common cause (17%). Overall, 29 child were alone at the time of injury. The most common type of injury was corneal laceration (71%). All traumatic cases were unilateral. Most children were injured in the early morning, therefore education of parents and other child care givers for more attention to children and improvement of health education about eye trauma may prevent pediatric eye injuries.