CHANGES IN THE FUNDUS CAUSED BY BLUNT OCULAR TRAUMA

Generally encountered during adolescence, blunt ocular trauma results in a variety of changes in the fundus. Our study investigated the dist ribution of trauma-induced changes in the fundus on the basis of the i ncidence and the Intent interval between the trauma and the occurrence of the symptoms. In addition, we studied the distribution of the case s in regard to patient age and sex and the cause of the trauma. Includ ed in this study were the 445 eyes, whose fundi could be evaluated, of 435 patients, who applied to the Eye Clinic of the Faculty of Medicin e, Ankara University, because of blunt eye trauma and patients from pr ivate practice during the period between 1980 and 1991. The following are the changes found in the fundus, either isolated or combined, that were detected in the 445 eyes included in this study: retinal detachm ent (194), retinal and choroidal atrophy (52), vitreous hemorrhage (50 ), optic atrophy (43), Berlin's edema (42), choroidal rupture (36), ma cular hole (18), macular hemorrhage (16), retinal hole (9), papillary- macular membrane (8), arterial occlusion (7), evulsion of the optic ne rve (5), and retinal-papillary edema (3). Seventy-nine percent were ma le patients, and 21% were female. The most frequently encountered age group was 11 to 20 years (32.2% of the cases included in our study).