Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9570
ISSN: 2155-9570
Majeedah Alotaibi
King Saud Medical City, KSA
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Exp Ophthalmol
Background: Ophthalmic emergencies are the condition that poses an immediate risk to the vision if left without immediate intervention. Globally, patients who visited the emergency room for ocular complains make up approximately 1-6% of the total patients who visited emergency of general hospital. Objective: To investigate the number and characteristics of ocular patients in King Saud Medical City (KSMC), types of ocular cases, the source of referral and disposal of all new cases. Methods: Retrospective method was initiated to investigate the patterns of the ocular cases, route of the referral, which presented to the ophthalmic ER in KSMC for the month of June, July and August 2016. Result: At the time of the study, 608 patients were included in the study. A total of 354 (58.2%) patients were male, 61% were in the age range of 16-45 years. Trauma was the most common diagnosis reported in 382 (62.8%) patients followed by conjunctival problem in 99 (16.2 %), lid and lacrimal system in 46 (7.5%), neuro-ophthalmology in 16 (2.6%), retinal disease in 13 (2.1%) and keratitis in 7 (1.1%) patients .The fast majority of patients were self referred (97%). Almost 91% of patients seen and managed by junior residents and 67.3% managed and discharged at the first visit. Conclusion: Ocular emergencies are an important element of an accident and emergency department load. Eye injuries were the most common reason for the ophthalmology emergency room visits. Patients� education and improvement of health facilities are crucial for prevention of serious eye injuries.
Majeedah Alotaibi was graduated from King Saud University, College of Medicine and Surgery, Saudi Arabia in 2014. She is currently an Ophthalmology Resident in King Saud Medical City.
Email: Majeedahalotaibi@hotmail.com