Open globe injury with an interesting intra-ocular foreign body

• Main Authors: Gill, Ekjyot, Shulman, Matthew, Schechet, Sid, Grumbine, Lawson
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House 2017-07-01
• Series: GMS Ophthalmology Cases
• Online Access: http://www.egms.de/static/en/journals/oc/2017-7/oc000068.shtml

Introduction: Cases of penetrating ocular trauma due to osseous material are limited, so reported incidents are valuable in determining outcomes and proper treatment courses.Case description: We report a case of an open globe injury of the left eye with an intraocular foreign body occurring after a firework exploded in the hand of a 22-year-old man. The patient presented with light perception vision in the injured eye with a full-thickness limbal laceration and dense hyphema obscuring fundoscopy. CT scan revealed a hyperdense foreign body juxtaposed to the lens. Immediate surgical intervention to repair the globe rupture revealed a defect in the anterior capsule and small, white objects in the posterior chamber that were promptly removed. Pathologic investigation determined these fragments to be cortical bone likely from the patient’s phalanges. Results and discussion: There was no evidence of endophthalmitis or keratitis from time of injury to the five-month follow-up, suggesting that the risk of infection may be low and therefore it may be reasonable to manage these injuries with a period of observation.