Visual Outcome and Ocular Survival After Sports Related Ocular Trauma in Playing Golf

PURPOSE: To study eye injuries. More specifically, to study the visual performance and ocular findings in people generating the eye trauma while golfing and to define the main mechanisms of injury. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed a case series of seven patients with golf-related eye injuries treated at Austrian hospitals over the last seven years in a multicenter setting. RESULTS: Five men and two women received treatment. The mean age was 46 (range, 29-63), and three of the patients had blunt close globe trrauma and four suffered from a ruptured globe. Following the injuries, the patients' initial visual acuity ranged from no light perception to 20/40. All of the patients recquired surgery, with the resulting visual acuily ranging from moving hands to 20/20. It should be noted that three eyes required enucleation. CONCLUSION: Visual outcome from surgery is frequently very poor in golf related injuries. This is further complicated by these traumas frequently being accompanied by a high enucleation rate. Among the patients reviewed, it was observed that ruptured globe trauma has a worse prognosis than close blunt trauma. Due to the severe resulting complications of golf-related ocular injuries, we believe eye protection should be considered and emphasized.