ocular trauma in subjects older than 60 years

purpose: to evaluate the demographic data, mechanisms of injury and complications of ocular trauma in patients over 60 year of age. methods: we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 91 patients older than 60 who were admitted and treated in the ophthalmology department of khalili hospital, between september 2002 and november 2008, due to ocular trauma. data were retrieved from admission charts including demographic information, mechanisms of injury, site of penetrating or perforating trauma, associated injuries such as endophthalmitis and intraocular foreign bodies, complications of trauma, the time interval between trauma and referral to our center and the initial visual acuities. x2 analysis were performed using spss 11.5 program to analyze the data. results: patient age ranged from 60 to 87 years with mean (±sd) of 69.6 (±7.8) years. 11 patients (21.1%) were monocular. 61 patients (67%) belonged to rural and 30 patients (33%) were from urban areas. mean (±sd) time interval from trauma to referral was 102 (±130) hours (range: 1 to 480 hours). the most common mechanisms of trauma were trauma with tree spines (24.2%), sharp trauma with wood (22%), blunt trauma with wood (11%), blunt trauma with hand (11%) and falling down (9.9%). three patients had intraocular foreign bodies and 14 eyes (15.4%) were complicated by endophthalmitis. the most common complications of trauma were corneal ulcer (27.5%), surgical wound dehiscence (22%) and corneal laceration (22%). there was significant correlation between corneal ulcer and also surgical wound dehiscence and profound visual loss. there was also significant correlation between referral later than 48 hours and profound visual loss. conclusion: the results of this study provide some information about elderly eye trauma. these results may be valuable in planning, education, prevention programs and surveillance of this susceptible population of the community.