Spectrum and Outcomes of Open Globe Injuries Presenting to a Tertiary Eye Centre in Singapore

Purpose To study the demographics and clinical outcomes of consecutive open globe injuries presenting to a tertiary centre in Singapore. Methods Data was prospectively collected for all open globe injuries presenting to a tertiary ophthalmology unit in Singapore between January 2014 and December 2015. Main clinical outcomes were the interval to surgical intervention and visual outcome at 6 months. Results We collected 11 cases with a mean duration of follow‐up of 6.5 ± 3.9 months. The mean age was 42.9 ± 22.3 years and 81.8% were male. 10 cases (90.9%) were from industrial accidents and the remaining 1 (9.1%) was due to a fall. Eye protection was worn in only 27.3% ( n = 3) of cases. Indications for surgery included penetrating injuries ( n = 7), intraocular foreign bodies (IOFB) ( n = 3) and globe rupture ( n = 1). Nearly all cases ( n = 10) sought medical attention within 7.4 ± 5.7 h of the injury, and the mean interval to surgical intervention in these cases was 4.1 ± 2.6 h. The remaining 1 case presented 1 week after the injury, and underwent surgery 5 days after presentation, for a metallic IOFB impacted in the sclera. No cases developed endophthalmitis. The mean number of surgeries required was 1.6 ± 0.7. At presentation, the mean visual acuity (VA) in the affected eye was 2.0 ± 1.1 logMAR and the mean ocular trauma score was 68.7 ± 17.5. There were 8 cases (72.7%) remaining to follow‐up at month 6, with a mean VA of 0.98 ± 1.12 logMAR, and 7 of 8 cases (87.5%) showed improvement in VA compared to presentation. Conclusions In our study, open globe injuries in Singapore are quite uncommon, occurred predominantly in males, often secondary to industrial accidents, and use of eye protection was often inadequate. In a tertiary ophthalmology practice, the majority received prompt surgical repair and had improvement in visual acuity at 6 months follow‐up.