Ocular sports injuries: the current picture

Objectives-To determine the recent incidence of eye injury due to sport in Scotland, identify any trend, and establish which sports are responsible fa r most injury? The type of injury and final visual outcome is also evaluate d. Methods-A prospective observational study of ocular injuries sustained duri ng sport was performed over a one year period. Only patients requiring hosp ital admission were included. Data were collected on a standardised proform a and entered into a central database. Patients were followed up for at lea st three months. Results-Of 416 patients admitted because of ocular injury, 52 (12.5%) resul ted from playing a sport. Although all racquet sports together accounted fo r 47.5% of these injuries, football was the single most common sport associ ated with ocular trauma, being responsible for 32.5% of cases. The most com mon clinical finding was macroscopic hyphaema occurring in 87.5% of patient s. Overall the final visual acuity was 6/6 in 92.5% of patients. Conclusions-The incidence of eye injury due to sport at 12.5% is lower than previously reported, suggesting a change in the pattern of ocular trauma. Football is the single most common cause of ocular injury from sport in Sco tland, but the wearing of protective headgear would be difficult to instiga te. The incidence of hyphaema in sport related ocular trauma (87.5%) is alm ost double that of all ocular injury (47.8%), so the potential for serious visual loss as the result of a sports injury should not be underrated. Opht halmologists have a role in protecting this young population at risk by act ively encouraging the design and use of protective eyewear.