Traumatic eye injuries due to large unusual foreign bodies: a Singapore case series.

PURPOSE: Traumatic eye injuries due to large foreign bodies (FB) are rare. The visual prognosis is often poor in these cases because of severe ocular damage. Staged surgical procedures with eventual enucleation or evisceration are often indicated.

METHODS

Case series.

RESULTS

The authors describe two patients with eye injury due to large FB with visual acuity of no light perception at presentation. Both had initial repair of the ocular injuries and removal of the FB. One patient with an intraocular FB eventually underwent enucleation; the other, with intraorbital FB, had evisceration as a secondary procedure. Orbital implantations were done in both. Neither of the patients had developed sympathetic ophthalmia at the last review.

CONCLUSIONS

The visual outcome of eye injuries due to large FB is poor. Both enucleation and evisceration can be performed with low risk of sympathetic ophthalmia. Prevention remains the best approach to such devastating injuries.