The effect of coronavirus disease-19 lockdown on the incidence and profile of penetrating ocular injuries

Abstract

Background: Perforating ocular injuries in particular carry a high risk of visual morbidity in all age groups. Risk factors associated with ocular trauma include gender, age, occupation, and lower socioeconomic status. Eye injuries are causing a major concern to the general ophthalmologists both in the developed and developing countries. Objective: The objective of this article is to study the profile of penetrating ocular injuries before and during the period of lockdown. Materials and Methods: A study was done to make a comparative analysis of the penetrating ocular injuries occurring during the period of lockdown of 3 months (April 1, 2020–June 30, 2020) and 3 months (January 1, 2020–March 31, 2020) before lockdown. Results: The study included 33 patients hospitalized before lockdown and 45 hospitalizations during the lockdown in all age groups. Injuries were more common in males. The injuries reported in the age group of 0–15 years before lockdown were 36.36% while during lockdown 60% injuries were observed. Modes of injuries reported before lockdown were indoor injuries (36.36%) and road traffic accidents (36.36%) while during lockdown, the major mode of injuries were indoor injuries (76.6%) whereas the road traffic accidents (10.0%) declined. Conclusion: During the lockdown, indoor injuries were more common in comparison to the outdoor injuries such as road traffic accidents, the latter being more prevalent before lockdown. During lockdown, increase in the indoor leisure activities of children led to a rise in the cases of eye injuries and an increase of almost double the number was observed. In addition to this, immobilization led to a decrease in the injuries due to road traffic accidents. The coronavirus disease-19 lockdown did have an impact on the profile of penetrating ocular injuries.