Eye injuries in Icelandic children.

The purpose was to establish the incidence and nature of serious eye injuries in Icelandic children. The method used was a retrospective study of 133 children aged 16 and younger admitted to the Landakots Hospital in Reykjavik, from January 1984 to December 1993. The results were: one hundred thirty three children were admitted because of eye injuries during the study period. There were 109 boys (82%) and 24 girls (18%). They were divided into four age groups. The incidence of eye injuries has decreased in all age groups except in children four years and younger. The most frequent diagnosis was eye contusion (51%), eye perforation (26%), eyelid trauma (14%) and minor injuries (8%). Fifty eight had hyphema, five of them rebled. Most of the accidents happened at play. Contusion of the eye because of beanbag shot was common (20.6%). In the years from 1984 to 1989 there were 84 children who had eye trauma whereas in 1989 to 1993 there were only 49 children who required hospitalization. Severe eye trauma in children has decreased in frequency, except in the youngest age group.