Factors Responsible for Poor Visual Outcome Following Emergency Eye Surgery in a Tertiary Eye Centre

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Ocular emergencies can cause permanent visionloss if they are not recognized and treated promptly. This study wascarried out to identify the factors responsible for poor visualoutcome following emergency eye surgeries.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out on allpatients who had surgical emergency eye procedures. Clinic andtheatre records of all eligible patients were retrieved. Demographiccharacteristics, duration of symptoms, laterality, presenting visualacuity, documentary pictures, classfication of eye injury, durationof days before surgery, surgical procedures performed and sixweeks post-operative visual acuity were obtained from the records.Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences,version 25.RESULTS: One hundred and ninety-four patients had emergencyeye surgical procedures constituting 16.3% of all ocularemergencies. There were 145(74.7%) males and 49 (25.3%)females with a male-to-female ratio of 3:1. The proportion ofstudents, 48(67.6%), that presented within 24 hours of injury wasthe highest while the civil servants, 8(17.8%), had the lowestproportion. Corneo-scleral repair topped the list of surgeries andwas the commonest, 106(54.6%), procedure carried out the sameday of presentation. A 3 rd of the patients, 28(34.1%), who presentedwithin 24 hours had normal vision 6 weeks post-operatively whileover 4/5 th of the patients who presented after 24 hours were blindsix weeks post-operatively.CONCLUSION: The prevalence of eye emergency surgicalprocedures was high with over 4/5 th of these patients becomingblind six weeks post-operatively. Some of the factors responsible forpoor visual outcome were delayed presentation, pre-operativevisual acuity and delayed surgical intervention.