Occupational Ocular Injuries and Utilization of Eye Protective Devices among Sawmill Workers in the Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria

In this work, we carried out a cross-sectional study to assess occupational ocular injuries and utilization of eye protective devices among sawmill workers in the Ojo local government area of Lagos State, Nigeria A structured questionnaire was used to conduct face-to-face interviews among the sawmill workers. Pearson’s chi-squared test and t-test were used to test associations between variables. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 215 sawmill workers with a mean age of 37.08 ± 12.07 years participated in the study. A majority (55.8%) of the participants were male (93.7%), and a majority were 21–40 years old (55.8%). Of the participants, 78.6% were aware of occupational ocular injuries and 17.7% used ocular safety devices. The major barrier to the use of eye protective devices was unavailability (43%). Workers who were ≥20 years old (p < 0.001), who received a monthly salary of less than USD 100 (p < 0.043), who had work experience of ≥10 years (p < 0.04), who were aware of ocular hazards (p < 0.03), and who did not use protective eye devices (p < 0.02) were significantly associated with occupational ocular injuries compared to others. The prevalence of occupational ocular injuries and the utilization of eye safety devices among the sawmill workers in the current study were comparable to findings from other studies. Based on the results of our study, we advise the provision of ocular protective devices for sawmill workers and policies to enforce regular utilization.

The Role of Nonophthalmologists in the Primary Evaluation of Head Injury Patients with Ocular Injuries

Purpose—Visual complaints are common in trauma cases. However, not every institution provides immediate ophthalmic consultations 24 h per day. Some patients may receive an ophthalmic consultation but without positive findings. We tried to evaluate risk factors for ocular emergencies in trauma patients. Then, the ophthalmologists could be selectively consulted. Methods—From January 2019 to December 2019, head injuries patients concurrent with suspected ocular injuries were retrospectively reviewed. All of the patients received comprehensive ophthalmic examinations by ophthalmologists. Patients with and without ocular injuries were compared. Specific ophthalmic evaluations that could be primarily performed by primary trauma surgeons were also analyzed in detail. Results—One hundred forty cases were studied. Eighty-nine (63.6%) patients had ocular lesions on computed tomography (CT) scans or needed ophthalmic medical/surgical intervention. Near 70% (69.7%, 62/89) of patients with ocular injuries were diagnosed by CT scans. There was a significantly higher proportion of penetrating injuries in patients with ocular injuries than in patients without ocular injuries (22.5% vs. 3.9%, p = 0.004). Among the patients with blunt injuries (N = 118), 69 (58.5%) patients had ocular injuries. These patients had significantly higher proportions of periorbital swelling (89.9% vs. 67.3%, p = 0.002) and diplopia (26.1% vs. 8.2%, p = 0.014) than patients without ocular injuries. Conclusions—In patients with head injuries, concomitant ocular injuries with indications for referral should always be considered. CT serves as a rapid and essential diagnostic tool for the evaluation of concomitant ocular injuries. Ophthalmologists could be selectively consulted for patients with penetrating injuries or specific ocular presentations, thus reducing the burden of ophthalmologists.

Pressure cooker–induced autovisceration: From kitchen to emergency

Domestic pressure cooker trauma leading to severe ocular injuries is generally underreported. It can have varying manifestations ranging from penetrating ocular injury to thermal burns. We report a case of pressure cooker explosion presenting as autoevisceration in one eye and thermal burn in the other eye. This case highlights the importance of the need to increase awareness and promote safety measures to help prevent such accidents.

“AN ANALYSIS OF OPHTHALMIC INJURIES IN PATIENTS WITH MAXILLOFACIAL TRAUMA”

PURPOSE OFTHE STUDY: To estimate the proportion and types of ophthalmic injuries in patients with maxillofacial fractures PATIENTS AND METHODS: All patients with maxillofacial trauma, who came to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery Government Dental college Thiruvananthapuram from November 2020 to June 2021were included in this study. The information and data collected included age, sex, mechanism of injury, type of maxillofacial fracture and type of ophthalmic injury. RESULTS: Ocular injury was sustained by 209 patients out of which 180 (86.1%) were males and 29(13.9%)were females. The largest age group of patients associated with ophthalmic injuries were 30-39 years. The etiology of facial fractures or ocular injuries showed that road trafc accidents more frequently resulted in ocular injuries 66.5% followed by assault 18.7% and self fall 14.8%. Ophthalmic injuries occurred mostly in association with orbital fractures 33.5% followed by Zygomatico maxillary complex fracture 26.8%and Maxillary sinus fractures 24.4%. Periorbital oedema was the most common ophthalmic injury accounting for 46.4%of cases followed by Periorbital ecchymosis 35.4% and Subconjuntival haemorrhage 17.2%. CONCLUSION: Mid facial trauma commonly causes ophthalmic injuries of varying degrees. Prompt ophthalmic examination of all patients with mid facial trauma is mandatory to prevent any blinding complications

Assessment of the maxillofacial patientMaxillofacial trauma and ATLS®

The assessment of the facial trauma patient requires a systematic approach with initial emphasis given to the principles of the Advanced Trauma Life Support® programme. Specific assessment of injury to the maxillofacial skeleton and associated ocular injuries are also described in this chapter.

CLINICAL PROFILE AND VISUAL OUTCOME IN OCULAR INJURIES-AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY AT TERTIARY CARE CENTRE

Background: Ocular injury is a major health problem in India, blunt trauma being one of the important causes of ocular morbidity and blindness. Eye injuries are avoidable, if prevention is quiet effective at work place, on the sports eld, and in home. Patients and ophthalmologist must be aware of activities that incur high of eye injury and must take advantage of a protective eye wear that is available, which varies with the need of the patient and when used in proper manner can reduce eye injuries in certain settings by as much as 90 percent. Methods:Ahospital based prospective observational study was conducted at AGMC& GBPHOSPITAL, including 200 patients within 2 years of duration. Patients with ocular injuries were included in this study. Patients who were not willing to participate and patients with pre-existing ocular diseases were excluded. Results: In our study, out of 200 patients 31(15.5%) eyes had lenticular involvement, 12(6%) had angle recession and 36(18%) cases of posterior segment involvement. Conclusion: It is clear from this study that ocular trauma is associated with varying degrees of loss of vision. We can infer that children and young adults are more prone to blunt ocular trauma, occupational injuries and road trafc accidents constitute the main bulk of injuries.