SPORT-RELATED EYE TRAUMA - A SURVEY OF THE PRESENTATION OF EYE INJURIES TO A CASUALTY CLINIC AND THE USE OF PROTECTIVE EYE-WEAR

The study investigated the workload offered by sport-related trauma to a busy casualty clinic and was carried out in two parts, The first pa rt concerned compiling information about sport-related injuries presen ting in 1 year to the outpatient eye clinic at Bradford Royal Infirmar y, The second part attempted to investigate the awareness and the use of eye-protectors for squash by the student community of Bradford Univ ersity, using a questionnaire, The sport-related injuries presenting t o the casualty department were classified according to the sport invol ved, Analysis of the data shows that racquet sports, namely tennis, ba dminton and squash, jointly formed the highest percentage of presentat ions. In the case of squash and tennis injuries, follow-up treatment a nd/or admission to hospital was required in 100% of cases, These injur ies could be reduced by wearing adequate eye-protectors, The questionn aire survey showed that only 9% of the squash players wore eye protect ion whilst playing, of whom 3.37% of the total had suffered lacerating injuries previously, Comparison with previous studies indicates that the pattern of eye injuries presenting to casualty departments, and th e awareness of the general public concerning the use of eye-protectors , has not altered in recent years, Unless steps are taken, in terms ei ther of mandatory use of eye-protectors and/or of educating the genera l public on the possible devastating effects of injury, these preventa ble injuries will continue to burden already overworked hospital casua lty departments, draining both resources and expertise.