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Purpose: To determine the current population-based epidemiology, treatment, use of resources and outcomes of children's eye injuries in Finland., Methods: The study included all new patients, 16 years of age or under, with ocular or orbital traumas taken into care to the Helsinki University Eye Hospital (population base 1.5 million people) in 1 year. The follow-up period was 3 months., Results: Two hundred and two children's eye injuries were treated. The eye injury incidence was 5.2-8.3 per 10 000 per year, including all minor and major eye traumas. Eye injury most likely occurred at the junior high school age (13-16 years). Thirty-three percentage of accidents took place at home and 24% at school or in day care. The most common causes were sports equipment (15%), contact with human body (12%) and superficial foreign bodies (11%). Excluding minor injuries, contusion was the most common diagnosis (n = 60, 30%). Eighty-seven percentage of contusion patients were estimated to need lifelong follow-up due to elevated glaucoma risk. Nine percentage of all patients had a permanent disability. Guns, fireworks, tools and pellet guns were relatively the most dangerous objects. Pellet guns caused 6% of eye injuries, 36% of them causing permanent impairment. The number of outpatient visits was altogether 443, inpatient days were 49, and 60 children had major surgeries., Conclusions: Use of protective eyewear would have prevented or diminished eye traumas caused by pellet gun, floorball, most of the firework and in many superficial foreign body. The use of pellet guns and protective eyewear should be more supervised. Fireworks and tools are not suitable toys for children., (© 2016 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Purpose: To describe epidemiology, causes, treatments and outcomes of ocular injuries in adults aged 17 to 60 in southern Finland., Methods: All new ocular trauma patients admitted to the Helsinki University Eye Hospital (HUEH), during 1 year in 2011-2012. The data were from hospital records and prospectively from patient questionnaires. The follow-up time was 3 months., Results: The incidence for ocular injury was 88/100 000/year. From 831 trauma patients, 80% were men, 34% were work-related injuries, and 11% were assaults. Most of the injuries were minor traumas (54%). Contusions (22.5%) and chemical injuries and burns (13%) were common. Fractures (5%), lid wounds (3%), open globe injuries (OGI, 2%) and optic nerve injuries (0.5%) were rare. The main causes of ocular injury were superficial foreign bodies (33%), chemicals (13%), body parts (13%) and sports equipment (10%). The most dangerous objects were needles, stones, pellet guns, tools and guns. No patient with OGI used protective eyewear. All OGI and most of contusions needed a lifelong follow-up. Permanent impairment (73 patients, 9%) was caused most often by body parts, sports equipment and work tools., Conclusion: A typical ocular trauma patient was a man aged 31-45 with a minor trauma caused by a foreign body at work and a final visual acuity of 20/20. Most common serious injuries were contusion, OGI or fracture at home or at work and were caused by a body part, sport equipment or work tool. Factors causing common and serious eye injuries provide the targets for protective measures., (© 2016 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)