| Summary: | Introduction. Eye injuries caused by shotgun buckshot or air-rifle bullets
are not common but are very severe, causing blindness of the injured eye.
Objective. By comparison of different parameters, to determine which of these
two types of injuries have more serious final effect on vision. Methods. A
retrospective comparative analysis of patients with shotgun and air-rifle
injuries, treated in the period 2000-2009 at the University Eye Clinic in
Belgrade was carried out, with patients being divided in two groups depending
of the type of the weapon. Age of patients, occupation, days in the week and
part of the day when the accidents happened, presence of the retained foreign
body, as well as the visual acuity on admission and final visual outcome were
reviewed and analyzed. Results. There were 16 shotgun and 5 air-rifle
injuries. Mean age of patients injured by shotgun was 45.5±11.9 years, while
those injured by air-rifle bullets were only 15.0±1.0 years old. Shotgun
accidents happened in hunters, on weekends, in the morning, while air-rifle
accidents were typical for pupils, on working days, in the afternoon. Final
visual acuity following buckshot injuries was: NLP in 6 (37.5%), less than
0.1 in 6 (37.5%) and normal (1.0) in 4 (25%) patients. Out of patients hit by
air-rifle bullet, no light perception (NLP) was documented in 4 (80%) while
visual acuity remained normal in one patient. Conclusion. All injuries by
shotgun and air-rifle are very serious, ending in loss of vision in high
percent of cases. Prevention is essential.
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