Description:
Background:
Corneal laceration repair can cause significant ocular morbidity, visual difficulty and blindness,
early diagnosis and careful management option in intervention was required to prevent these
early and late complications. Ocular morbidity and visual difficulty has direct consequences to
the social economic welfare of the affected individuals and society in general .Up to now fewer
studies have been conducted to determine the severity of cornel laceration repair both in
Tanzania and world in general but various risk factors have been identified for corneal
lacerations are usually caused by high-speed objects flying into the eye. Missiles with stones,
catapults, glass, knives, sport-related injuries, and fishing-related injuries are a few of the
commonest causes of corneal lacerations (Naidu et al 2015).
Objective:
Objective of the research report was to determine the severity of visual outcome of corneal
laceration repair for patients attending at KCMC eye department from January 2014 to April
2015.
Method:
A hospital based cross sectional study design which involved 65 patients who underwent corneal
laceration repair from January 2014 To June 2015.convience sampling technique will be used
where by patients information will be extracted from their files which will be sequentially
retrieved from the medical record department. Data from the parent study will be analyzed using
SPSS version 22.
Results:
A total of 66 patients files with corneal laceration who underwent corneal laceration repair at
KCMC eye department were included in this study. The severity of the visual outcome after
corneal laceration repair was a severe visual impairment (6/60 - CF) accounting for 48.5% of all
repair among these many of them reported prior corneal laceration repair to the hospital with
visual acuity of Blindness(Hand movement, perception of light and No perception of light)
38(57.6%). Majority 47(41.8%) of the respondents were between 18-40years and male accounted
for 51 (77.3%). About 19 (28.8%) of all study patients were chagga. The most frequent corneal
injuries were caused by sharps objects, accounting for 44(66.7%) which included mostly knifes,
sticks and motorcycles accidents. The study showed most commonly injured eye is the left eye
with 39(59.1%) with no bilateral injury. About 16 (24.2%) of patients were taken to the hospital
and operated for corneal laceration within the first day or 24 hours after corneal injury occurred.
In most frequent corneal laceration repair at KCMC are encountered with no complications
which is a big achievement accounting for 48 (72.7%) of all corneal laceration repair, suture
removal time was found to be after 14 days post corneal laceration repair with 19 (28.8%).
Conclusion:
Apart from benefit of corneal laceration repair surgery more than three quarter of the patients
still remained visually impaired, severely impaired or blind after surgery .ironically almost all
the patient improved their visual acuity as well as their visual outcome after corneal laceration
repair .there is strong indication that intervention in hospital as an absolute necessity if some
kind of vision is to be preserved in the affected eye of the corneal laceration patients.